If you were going to preach your own beatitudes, wouldn’t you have had a different list than Jesus? My list would have read something more like this:
Blessed are you when you succeed
Blessed are those who get an education
Blessed are you when you have a happy marriage
Blessed are you if you live long and have good health
Blessed are you if you have grandchildren
Blessed are you when you achieve financial security
Blessed are you when you look good
Blessed are you when you have everything you want.
Jesus didn’t put any of mine on his list though. And so in our study of the beatitudes we realized a lot of things, but I’ll share two here:
First, No one is blessed automatically for being in any of these hard circumstances. The key to understanding how happiness and blessing can be found in what Jesus is saying is realizing that it requires faith. Every one of these beatitudes demands faith, and describes faith.
If you’re mourning, you have to trust God’s word that you will be comforted. If you’re meek, you do it because you know that you are going to inherit the earth. If you’re pure in heart, its because you believe God’s word that you will see God. If you are literally rejoicing and glad when people say evil things about you while you stand with Christ and maintain your faith, it is because you indeed trust Jesus’ words “great is your REWARD in heaven.”
In other words, there is no other way to live out the beatitudes (or any command for that matter) than by faith. So if we truly have faith in the words of Jesus then it will be proven by how we live out His teachings. This is why the book of James was written: “Faith without deeds is useless. Abraham’s faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”
How should we leave this series on the Beatitudes? We should take them with us! We should live them out. They are part of the whole body of teaching given to us in Scripture that edifies us in the faith. “All scripture is God-breathed, and is useful…” 2 Timothy 3:16 says. “Go therefore and make disciples” Jesus said in Matthew 28, “teaching them to obey EVERYTHING I have commanded.” Everything would include the beatitudes.
Let us review
#1 GO TO JESUS (1-2)
Leave the Beatitudes by going to Jesus. Verses 1 and 2 say, “…..” He went up a mountainside, sat down, and his disciples came to him. A disciple is someone who goes to Jesus. They are known for how they continually come to Jesus. His words are their daily bread. Sitting in front of him and receiving his teaching is worth more than getting the dishes done (Martha!). Disciples bring everything in their life to Him. They want everything in their life to align with him so they seek Him out for instruction, guidance, strength. So, leave the beatitudes by going to Jesus.
#2 BE POOR IN SPIRIT (3)
Jesus says in verse 3, “….” Be poor in spirit. Poor in spirit means you humbly understand that by yourself you are spiritually empty, poor, or bankrupt. You know you don’t have anything to offer God that is acceptable to Him. This is the opposite of having confidence that we are sufficient all by ourselves. “I know nothing good lives in me – that is, in my sinful nature” Romans 7 says. “But whatever was to my gain I now consider loss for the sake of Christ” Philippians 3 says. Those are expressions of a man who is poor in spirit – he knows full well that he is nothing, he has nothing and he can do nothing that God accepts.
#3 BE A MOURNER (4)
Third, blessed are those who mourn. Verse 4 says, “….” Mourning means just that – mourning. It means grieving, sadness, and sorrow. We learned in this beatitude that we mourn sin, and how destructive it is. We mourn the sin of this world, of sin in the Body of Christ, of sin in our own lives. We learned that this mourning is the outgrowth of righteousness and wisdom. We desire righteousness, we know wisely what is right in God’s eyes. Yet when we then look out at the world, and look in at ourselves, we mourn that all is not “right” as it should be. So faith, and righteousness, and wisdom, and love for God and for these things, will produce the stress of grief and the weight of sadness in us because we believe God and we are longing for the coming of righteousness!
#4 BE MEEK (v5)
Fourth, be meek. Verse 5 says, “…..” You’ve probably heard “meek” defined as “power under control” which gets the thought going but doesn’t open it up enough. A meek person is someone who has control over themselves in the face of mistreatment, which is where the biblical phrase “patient endurance” is related (Revelation 1:9). Meek is referring to someone who CHOOSES not to retaliate, or defend themselves when they could, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil” Romans 12:17 says, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty give him something to drink.” And this is the reason for meekness in verse 21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” It’s impossible to do that without meekness. Because meekness is self-control in the face of provocation and abuse.
Understand: meekness comes from faith – faith in two specific ways. First, it’s a person who knows God is in control and sovereignly brings situations into their life according to His good purpose. The second faith leads to meekness is this: the meek person knows any evil done to them now will be repaid at judgment.
This is all based on faith, not fear, and not feeling weak and overpowered and dominated, and having to retreat like a coward. Meekness comes from inner strength that enables you to square up with whatever injustice is touching you with an inner confidence and calm, fully trusting yourself and your circumstance to God.
#5 DESIRE RIGHTEOUSNESS (6)
Fifth, let us all want righteousness. Look at verse 6 with me…. This is a drive for righteousness. Longing for righteousness drives you to God and to His righteousness. You hunger for Him. You feel how necessary He is to you. Its like a survival thing – you can’t live without Him – which you can’t. You have to have Him to live. This spiritual hungering and thirsting has a desperation to it:
- Psalm 42:1-2 says “Like a deer panting for streams of water, so my soul pants for you O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
- Or Psalm 63:1 where it says, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” Can you see that desperation in their hunger and thirst? Nothing else will do but God – the righteous God. “My heart and flesh cry out for the living God” Psalm 84:2 says.
#6 BE MERCIFUL (v7)
Sixth, be merciful. Verse 7 says, “….” Mercy is used in two primary ways in the bible: first it refers to bringing relief to those who are burdened or troubled or in need. One commentator says mercy is being “actively compassionate,” while another says it is “compassion in action.” Secondly mercy is used in the bible judicially, or legally: meaning someone does not get the consequences they deserve. They are spared (pardoned) the punishment they rightfully deserve. So let us be merciful: let us bring relief to people who are in need, and let us pardon people by forgiving them.
#7 BE PURE IN HEART (v8)
Seventh, be pure in heart. Verse 8 says, “….” Pure in heart means having an honest and sincere heart. That within our hearts we have thoroughly true motives and our motives aren’t mixed with evil thoughts, selfish gain, and so on. Pure of heart means that when we act we act with a clean conscience – that there is nothing we secretly are condemning ourselves for and that there is nothing we’re trying to hide. Pure means that our thoughts back up what we do and say rather than hide behind what we do and say. Pure means our hearts are not polluted with the backwash of the world and sin.
A pure heart shows in our undivided devotion to God: “Love the LORD your God with ALL your heart…”. A pure heart shows in sincere motives, 1 Chronicles 29:17says, “I know my God that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent.” A pure heart means sincere worship, “call on the Lord out of a pure heart” 2 Timothy 2:22 says. Be pure in heart!
#8 BE A PEACEMAKER (v9)
Be a peacemaker, as verse 9 says, “….” A peacemaker is someone who actively creates peace and harmony with others where they are. They are peace “producers” – who effect greater peace in the groups they’re part of. They “Maintain the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” as Ephesians 4 commands. They maintain peace – which makes me like to say they are stewards of peace. They take up the responsibility of making peace wherever they are. Peacemakers are not passive doormats who are afraid of conflict and “for the sake of peace” never tackle issues. That actually does not promote peace, but lets problems persist – problems that threaten peace. Instead, peacemakers are proactive in bringing up issues or problems, and working through them in a godly, patient and loving way. Be a peacemaker
#9 EMBRACE PERSECUTION (10-12)
Ninth, and finally, embrace persecution. Read verses 10-12…. Persecution comes, Jesus says, when his disciples are committed to righteousness and to Him. The implication is that this world will persecute you in order to get you to compromise your commitment to Christ and to righteousness. But Jesus says blessed are his disciples when they are persecuted. The kingdom of heaven belongs to them and great is their reward for their costly faithfulness. What is more, they are in special fellowship with the prophets, the apostles and the Lord Himself when they suffer persecution. Jesus’ point is that we should expect persecution, and we should embrace it. Because it is not for nothing. He sees it and He will reward it.
CONCLUSION: Follow Jesus Down The Mountain
The beatitudes are the introduction to a longer teaching, which is the greatest sermon ever, called “the Sermon on the Mount.” If you look at the end of that sermon you will see how to respond to the beatitudes. Look at 8:1, “When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.” They followed him UP the mountain. Then they followed Him DOWN the mountain.
The point is real simple: follow Jesus. Leave this sermon series ready to follow Jesus anywhere. Jesus called His first disciples with these words, “Follow me.” That is the definition of a disciple. So let us follow Him in everything and always. Follow him into having a poor spirit. Follow Him into mourning and meekness. Follow Him into yearning for righteousness. Follow Him into being merciful. Follow Him into a pure heart, and being a peacemaker. Follow Him into persecution.
Because if you do, you will follow him into the kingdom of heaven and into comfort. You will follow him into inheriting the earth, being shown mercy and being called a child of God. You will follow Him into great reward, and seeing God.
SILENT REFLECTION