01.02.2011 Sermon on the Mount

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Thank You, that You love us and we are a part of Your family – we know that You are with us wherever we go this year. You are on our side. That is all we really need – that knowledge and understand of that truth. Everything else is Your grace – and the gifts that You give we receive with gratitude. Help us as we move into the new year to have hearts filled with You and the desire to follow You. We are Yours, Lord – and You are pleased. Help us to experience Your protection and provision daily.
We finished our last series with the coming of the King. We are going to look at The Sermon on the Mount today – because it leads from His coming to His the arriving of the Kingdom.
Let’s jump right into it. It is important to look at everything in its context – we’ll look at Matthew’s version –
Matt. 4: 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
This is in the context of the coming of the Kingdom.
18 And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He ^said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him. 21 And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the [son] of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him.
The announcement of the Kingdom, and then the calling of the first citizens of the Kingdom.
From vv. 23-30 – Jesus begins to preach and large crowds begin to follow Him. – This is the
This is what it looks like to be part of God’s Kingdom – God’s reign through Christ.
Matthew uses the term Kingdom of Heaven – and we think of when we die and go to heaven, but this is God’s reign here on earth – perhaps the best definition is in the Lord’s Prayer – Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven – There is an already, and a not yet. There are aspects that won’t fully be carried out until the end. That is the context.
Matthew 5:1 And when He saw the multitudes, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 And opening His mouth He [began] to teach them, saying, 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Before we go any further, we need to understand what “Blessed” means– in the early 70’s, some translations came out and defined this as HAPPY. We think of happy – as everything going well and feeling good about everything.
Let me give a definition:
Blessed: Makarios is a state of existence in relationship to God in which a person is “blessed” from God’s perspective even when he or she doesn’t feel happy or isn’t presently experiencing good fortune. This does not mean a conferral of blessing…or an exhortation to live a life worthy of blessing; rather, it is an acknowledgement that the ones indicated are blessed. Negative feelings, absence of feelings, or adverse conditions cannot take away the blessedness of those who exist in relationship with God.
It simply means to be favored by God – blessed by Him.
Poor in Spirit. A long time ago, before Cindy and I were married, I worked in a machine shop – not machining – I just swept – and there were two Christians in the shop who were arguing whether this had to do with poor – like Luke says – and poor in spirit. Now it just so happens that the one in favor of Luke, blessed are the poor, was from a Black Apostolic church and the one saying Poor in Spirit was from a White Non-denominational church. I would like to say that they are both right – they aren’t opposed to one another – both of their gospels are inspired by God.
We must understand Jesus’ words in His context and His environment. It is in this context – The Jews were the poor and the poor in spirit who, because of distress, have confidence only in God. The majority He was speaking to were poor. And they had to realize that their only hope was in God. They needed God. For us – in our context – the word poor means to be bankrupt, or destitute. He is talking about those who are economically bankrupt – and also those who are spiritually bankrupt – who know that their only hope is in God. Our only hope is God. What Jesus is doing – He is making a pronouncement – not a command – He is not saying, Be poor in Spirit – He is saying – IF you are poor in spirit, you are blessed. I will focus a little extra on this one, because all the others fall off of this one. There are not 3 steps to spiritual poverty – God has a unique way to bring you to spiritual poverty – He has had a unique way to break you down – to see your need for Him – and it is never the same. Here is my definition of spiritually poor – and you’ll recognize it as mine – it has very small words: Spiritual poverty happens when you recognize at some point in your life – you are one big spiritual failure. There you go. When life’s circumstances cause you to despair – to fail – so that you only depend on Him – then you are blessed! IT doesn’t feel like that, does it? The one who has no other place to go but God. We fight that, don’t we! We spend billions of dollars insuring ourselves against anything going wrong! Not that there is anything wrong with insurance – because there are billions of lawyers who will sue you when something goes wrong We are trying to hedge our bets continually – but God wants us in a place where we trust in Him continually.
There is a way that this does, and does not, happen in Revelation:
Rev. 3: 17 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,"
This is not a true spiritual poverty. I think this could speak volumes to American Christianity – I don’t need a thing – but then it says:
and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and [that] the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.
Spiritual poverty is something that God must do inside of us. It cannot happen without first the refiner’s fire. That is how it happens. We must first go through a furnace in life.
I think one thing that helps in this is – and we will do this in the second half of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality – is learning to have solitude and reflection – What we do to keep us from realizing it – we just keep busy – activity after activity – and when you get time to stop and think and listen before God – God is able in those times (and those times only) to reveal the work that has to take place in your soul.
These people didn’t believe this work would be necessary. When Dick prayed that God would do His work – are you willing to allow God to reveal God to allow Him to change you? To go as deep as He wants to go? That is the call here.
That is poor in spirit.
There are no imperatives, no commands, in this passage – these are not commands, they are pronouncements – if this is your state, you are blessed - the condition in which you are blessed.
4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
When someone loses a loved one – we mourn. If you lose a job and find yourself in economic difficulty, there is a period of mourning, isn’t there? When you lose a relationship – you mourn. He is speaking about the mourning of our own spiritual poverty as well. There is a mourning over sin that I don’t like to do. I will acknowledge that I am a sinner – but I try to get away from it as soon as possible. IF you have worked with grief at all – the most important thing is to allow it to have its time. So many people try to just move on and it is the worst thing you can do.
We just want to get past our sin quickly – God wants us to mourn our poorness – to understand the pain that it has caused Christ on the cross.
5 "Blessed are the gentle (meek), for they shall inherit the earth.
Meek: here is a definition, again, not mine: Meek people are those who do not assert themselves over others to advance their cause. I bet your place of employment needs more meek people! The church needs more meek people! In all the traditions – and in all the other stuff – we don’t assert ourselves to advance our own cause. Some have said the last six words of the church are “we never did it that way!”
6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
This shows desperate need – all you think about – water and food.
Righteousness – 2 basic meanings – first – right living/personal holiness. A hunger and thirst for right living – if that is your condition, you are blessed.
It also speaks of a hunger and thirst for justice for the oppressed. Tim Keller explains this well in his book, Generous Justice.
Let me read from Matthew 6 – to demonstrate what righteousness is
6:1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. 2 "When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 3 "But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing 4 that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
He ties righteousness with the helping of the needy – that is right and holy living.
7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Merciful – the giving of grace to the needy – ready to come to the aid of those in need. – someone who can put him or herself in another’s circumstances – to feel someone’s pain – to understand them – to be willing to go there – to what got them where they are – and to recognize the deep wound that many carry – and instead of writing them off – to come to their aid. How many of us say – they got themselves into that circumstance – if there is anyone who got themselves into a circumstance – think of the prostitutes – what MERCY Jesus showed to them. In His day, they may have been the toughest to show that to.
8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Clean in heart? Many of us immediately go to sexual immorality – but it is more than that – undivided loyalty to God. Anything that keeps you from an undivided loyalty to God, then you are not pure of heart, even if you have no sexual immorality issues.
9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Peacemakers ties this all together – wholeness in relation to God and people. Each of these focuses on one aspect or another. A peacemaker helps others to make peace with one another or with God. The next section focuses on our relationship as Kingdom citizens to the world:
10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when [men] cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. 12 "Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The other thing we see – there is a reality that includes living in an antagonistic, hostile world. If you are in that situation – you are blessed. The kingdom community – we are a counter-culture, and that community will be despised by the surrounding community at some point. We are forced to live in this culture that is antagonistic – we are not to segregate – and when we do, we are blessed.
He closes it off with this: 13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty [again]? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 "Nor do [men] light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
There are two parables – one about salt – which preserves and flavors. They didn’t have refrigeration – and to flavor the food – we are to be mixed into this world – and as we are – we should have influence and impact in this world. That is what the kingdom is all about – that is why we live this way. This is something the world can’t imagine, comprehend, or believe.
If you lose your saltiness – losing your ideals and qualities of a kingdom citizen – you won’t’ have the influence! When we get mixed into the world to have influence, we tend to lose our saltiness and lose our influence.
Isolation is not an option – you are mixed into the world and you are to remain there and live out these ideals in the world.
What we will do in the remainder of the Sermon on the Mount – He will show practically what you can do to apply this. How do you do this?
Let’s pray.
Lord, we wish to learn – thank You that we are blessed when we find ourselves poor in spirit. We may not feel that we are blessed, but we have found your favor and your hand is upon us and your presence

4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.