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BLESSED BY GOD |
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This morning
we’re beginning a whole new series of messages from the Sermon on the
Mount - Matthew chapters 5 to 7.
Before we get
there, let me share some background on what this series is about. About
1500 years ago the emperor of Rome - Valentinian III built a tomb for his
beloved sister Galla Placidia - the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia - which
still stands today in Ravenna, Italy. The small building was designed in the shape of a cross with a
vaulted ceiling covered with colorful mosaics - swirling glittering stars
- the twelve apostles - and Jesus as the Good Shepherd - surrounded by
sheep in paradise. These are incredible mosaics. The chapel is
on the World Heritage list. Visitors who’ve seen these mosaics as pictures - like
in travel books or on the net - can be really disappointed when they enter
the mausoleum.
The structure has tiny windows - that let in limited amounts of
light.
When the door gets shut it gets really really dark. The vision of
the Good Shepherd in a starry paradise - heaven - is hidden in a veil of
darkness. From what I understand - people will stand - packed
together - a herd of tourists - in darkness - in a building that smells
like - well, like a tomb - because it is - smelling the odors of the
people around them - the perfume - the sweat - gazing into the darkness -
waiting for light to shine on the mosaics. In the mausoleum there are there’s a metal box. When someone
puts 300 lira - about 25 cents - into that box - it triggers the
spotlights.
For a brief period of time these people - who’ve
endured all the darkness and smell - get a glimpse of what’s above. (1) Our trying to understand the Kingdom of God is like
that.
Imagine God. What’s He like? What’s it like
for Him to be holy - almighty - all knowing - eternally existing
transcendent of time. What’s it like to dwell in God’s
presence?
The blinding radiance - the magnificence - the awesomeness beyond
anything we can even begin to begin to begin to imagine. How are we to
understand God?
How are we to understand God’s kingdom - the universal sovereignty
of God - in particular His sovereign rule over the affairs of history -
over human life - over our lives. We’re like those tourists - crowded together - waiting
for a glimpse of the Divine. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus illuminating
God’s kingdom - what it means to live in relationship with the
Sovereign God - knowing Him and being known by Him. What that
relationship is like down at the level where we live life. What you’re looking at is the traditional site where
most people think Jesus shared the Sermon on the Mount. Its more like
the Sermon on the Hill - not a mountain. A giant amphitheatre - with the Sea of
Galilee - the water to amplify Jesus’ voice up the hill. Jesus was at the height of his popularity. Crowds were
coming to Him from all over. Wherever Jesus went the crowds
went. One day, Jesus looked at these crowds of people
- Jesus sits down - probably in this location - and begins to teach these
thousands of people what it means to know God’s presence in our
lives. To
give them a glimpse of what it means to live life with the living God. Coming to Matthew 5 - verse 1 - these are pretty
familiar verses so I’d like to have us read them out loud together - to
get them fresh in our minds. Then we’ll come back and make some
observations and application. Starting at verse 1: When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain;
and after He sat down His disciples came to Him. He opened His
mouth and began to teach them saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they
shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall
inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are
the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of
God.
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are
you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of
evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in
heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were
before you.” First observation. We need to understand what Jesus means
by being “blessed.” These verses are what have been called the what? “The
Beatitudes.”
Beatitude comes from the Latin “beatitudo” meaning “a state of
blessedness”
9 times Jesus says, “Blessed are…” What does Jesus mean by that? Do you all know what starts this Thursday night? 8:00 p.m., on
CBS?
Survivor China. That’s must see TV. Anyone know who this person is? Remember Katie
Gallagher?
The local Mercedian who was on Survivor a couple years ago? Katie came in
second to New York Firefighter Tom Westman - the ultimate survivor. Westman got
the $1 million prize. Gallagher - for being #2 - got
$100,000. Imagine this - a group of people from all kinds of
backgrounds - from all over the place - trying to survive together and yet
at the same time they’re competing against each other. After each
round of competition they do what? They vote to see who gets kicked
out. For
whatever reason - you’re lazy - you cheated - you’re too old - you’re ugly
- your mother wears army boots - whatever. The ultimate goal is what? Not to get
voted out.
To survive. Survival is by using people. Making
alliances.
Breaking alliances. There’s betrayal and suspicion. Nobody trusts
anybody.
The winner is the person who’s able to use the others more
ruthlessly - more hurtfully - at whatever cost to ensure their own
survival. Sounds kind of like life. Doesn’t
it? We live in a world where survival depends on us. Success
doesn’t involve character. Success involves the ability to
climb over anyone
else on the way to the top. Cheat - lie - steal - be an adulterer -
fornicate - do what it takes. And, its all okay as long as you don’t
get caught - as long as you’re moving up. More wealth - more toys - more power -
more control over others. “Blessed” is the Greek word “markarios.” It means a
whole lot more than some passing surface emotion - or having things
seemingly go right for us. “Blessed” has the idea of a profound sense
of essential well being - of being rightly aligned at the core of who we
are.
Being centered on what’s important in life and experiencing a peace
- a settledness in our hearts - as a result. That blessing
is what God brings to us in the reality of where we live our lives. In the midst of what this world tries to abuse us with
- conform us to - beat us down with - in the midst of the survival
mentality of this world - God offers each of us something tremendously
different.
His approval - His provision for our lives - His healing - His
purpose for us - life in His kingdom - knowing God and being known by
Him. We are blessed by God. Say that with me, “We are blessed by God.” Second observation: We need to understand where God’s
blessing touches our lives. Jesus’ “blesseds” are a description of
what it means to live blessed by God. Jesus begins: “Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Jesus is talking to a crowd of diverse thousands -
multi-ethnic - multi-cultural - from every economic strata - the suffering
and sick - average people just trying to get by - people from different
religious backgrounds - religious leaders proud of their piety and
traditions. To Jesus’ listeners - life with God meant sacrifices - regulations - traditions -
impossible standards of holiness - condemnation and ostracism for failure
- hundreds of laws imposed by the Pharisees and Sadducees. Who’s Jesus talking to? He’s talking to the “poor in
spirit” who’ve
been told all their lives - that spiritually - you don’t have what it takes.
You’ll
never measure up. Ever feel that way? And yet,
Jesus says
we’re blessed by God. Some versions of the Bible render Jesus’ teaching like
this:
“Happy are those who are spiritually poor.”
(GNB, TLB) Which sounds silly. Just think
happy thoughts and it’ll be okay. I googled “happiness.” Did you know that eBay has happiness for
sale?
Find happiness at Amazon.com. There was this one site that advertised
a technique called Holographic Creation. For only $28.19 they’ll send you this
book that will teach you how to create your own happy space reality. How can we be happy if we never measure up? No matter what
we do - whatever we achieve or fill our lives with - even the pursuit of
God - how can we know God’s blessing if deep down we know we fail?
To be poor in spirit means admitting that we don’t
measure up. That we’re powerless to control our
penchant for doing the wrong thing. Jesus says of the poor in spirit,
“theirs is the kingdom of heaven” - present tense. God has already brought His kingdom down to those who
realize they can never measure up to God. Look where Jesus goes with this - verse 4: “Blessed
are those who mourn - those who cry and weep over their sins
- for they shall be comforted.” Jesus enters into Jerusalem on what we celebrate as
Palm Sunday.
At some point - in the midst of all that confusion - Jesus comes to
a place where He can see the whole city of Jerusalem laid out in front of
Him. Luke
writes, “When Jesus saw the city He wept over it.” He mourned. (Luke 19:41) In one instant of time Jesus is confronted with the
sin of Jerusalem - their hopeless situation. He sees all
the sins the people have committed - the spiritual poverty of the people -
their coming judgment because of sin - His crucifixion and carrying of
their sin - and ours - and Jesus mourns over the city. That’s what Jesus means by mourning. Feeling the
depth of our own spiritual bankruptcy - mourning the cost and depth of our
sin.
Feeling the spiritual poverty of those we live with -
those around us - who like us are crying out - in the same ways that we cry
out. Who have the same needs and struggles - and who sin as we
sin - and desperately need to know God’s comfort and healing - His blessing. Jesus says, God blesses - comforts - those who mourn -
who realize their need - their spiritual poverty - and are open and ready
and crying out to God for His comfort. That’s not a bunch of spiritual happy
thoughts. God has answered our cry with the comfort of salvation and life
in Jesus Christ.
In Isaiah 61:3, Isaiah writes that Jesus comes to give “the oil
of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a
spirit of despair.” In Jesus, God Himself comforts us. (see also Matthew 11:4-6; Luke 4:18-21; 7:22) “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He
- what? loved us an sent His Son to be the means by which our
sins are forgiven.” (1 John 4:10) “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that
while we were yet sinners, Christ - what? died for us.” (Romans 5:8) “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves, it is the - what? gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8) Hear this: Jesus isn’t talking about how to be blessed -
how to earn God’s blessing. He’s talking about being
blessed - no matter who we are - no matter how we’ve failed - no matter how ugly and
stunk up with sin we are - we’ve been blessed
by
God. The kingdom is ours. God’s comfort
is ours. That’s revolutionary. Life transforming. Bottom line: We’re powerless to free ourselves from
our failure and sin. But, God is not. God has
already blessed us by dealing with our failure and sin through Jesus
Christ. We’re blessed because God has come
to us. Say that with me, “God has come to us.” Jesus goes on - verse 5: “Blessed are the gentle - or some translations render this “meek” - same word
in Greek - “praus” - blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the
earth.” I read about J. Upton Dickson who wrote a book
entitled, “Cower Power.” Have you heard this? According to
the story - Dickson founded an organization for submissive people called
DOORMATS - an acronym for Dependent Organization Of Really Meek And Timed
Souls.
Their motto is: “The meek shall inherit the earth - if that’s okay
with everybody.” When we think of meekness we often think of
weakness.
Like being a doormat that says “STEP HERE.” People who
just sort of lay there and let the world wipe their feet all over
them. But, meekness is not what? weakness. That is so
misunderstood in our survive at all costs - gain the world by destroying
others - society. The meek are those who have chosen to commit their
lives and will to God’s care and control. Jesus goes on - verse 6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Picture the scene of starving people in a Third World
country.
Children - dying with swollen stomachs. People are
desperate - without hope. Day after day the only task is
survival. When the trucks arrive with water and bags of grain
how do the people respond? Indifferent? Like they
don’t really need what’s on the truck? Politely? “May I please have a sack of grain and some
water. If
its not too much trouble.” Women - mothers - will throw themselves in front of a
moving truck to get it to stop so the children can swarm onto it. In a matter of
minutes the children will strip it clean. Actually happens. These people
are desperate - starving - hungering and thirsting - surging towards the
truck - jostling with each other. Nothing will keep them back from what
they desperately need. Way too often we delude ourselves - filling up on junk
- religious experiences - creature comforts - endless activity. We’re far too
easily satisfied with what keeps us from what we desperately need. The result is far from be blessed. When we live
life our way we live empty. There’s a void within that never gets
filled. A
purposelessness.
A uselessness to life. There’s fear - uncertainty - guilt -
pain. We need a passion - a desperation for righteousness -
for living life God’s way. The Greek word for “satisfy” is ”chortazo” - it has
the idea of fattening up cattle. Happy cows come from where?
California. Well feed. Satisfied. Blessed are those who passionately desire to live as
God requires.
Who passionately desire to allow Him to transform our hearts into
conformity with His heart - to remove from us whatever keeps us back from
living life as He would have us live life. That kind of life is the only kind of
life that really satisfies. Bottom line: When we’re willing to totally commit our
lives to God - to passionately pursue what He has for us in life - living
life as He would have us live life - God takes care of the rest -
supplying all that we need - satisfying us - even at the depths of our
hearts. We’re blessed because God will satisfy our
deepest needs. Say that with me, “God will satisfy our deepest needs.” Jesus’ goes on - another blessing - verse
7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive
mercy.” Peter comes to Jesus and asks Him, “Lord, how may times can my brother sin against me
before I don’t have to forgive him any more?” Jesus answers Peter, “You should forgive your brother” - what? “70 times 7” 490 times - a limitless amount of
times. Why? Because our example of mercy is
God. We
sinners deserve the wrath of God - to be leveled by God forever and ever
amen. But
God is merciful towards us - holds back His wrath. Do we deserve
mercy?
No.
Can we earn God’s mercy? No. Jesus is talking to people who probably never had
received mercy from those who were over them. Feels like
that sometimes - doesn’t it? It would be so easy to become bitter -
resentful - angry. There are times when we’d really like to
level somebody.
Probably be justified in doing so. Be honest. Tell them what
to do with themselves because of they way they’ve treated us.
But Jesus is saying that we’ve been blessed by God -
in that - regardless of what we’ve done to God - He’s shown us mercy. Point
being:
Those who show mercy to others understand God’s mercy towards
them. Jesus goes on with this - verse 8: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God.” A boy and a girl look at each other and love passes
between them. They see each other - not only with their eyes -
but with their hearts. Even when Jesus was dealing with the outer issues of
people’s lives - healing them - feeding them - when Jesus looked at people
he saw their hearts. Not the outside stuff that we tend to
focus on.
But the core of who they were. Their feelings and desires and thoughts
and passions.
Their will. Even where they were spiritually in
their relationship with God. A pure heart is a heart that’s 100% sold out to
God. Not
50% - not 70% - not 90% - but 100%. God wants to work in our hearts - to deal with us at
the core of who we are. To purify us - cleanse us. The pure in
heart are those who are willing to allow God to examine their hearts - to
remove anything there that’s not of Him. So that nothing clouds our vision of
God.
Nothing hinders our relationship with Him. Then Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called
the sons of God.” Jim
Walton was translating the New Testament for the Muinane people of La
Sabana in the jungles of Colombia. But he was having trouble translating
the word peace. During this time the village chief Fernando was
promised a 20-minute plane ride to a location that would have taken him 3
days to travel by walking. The plane was delayed in arriving at La
Sabana - so Chief Fernando left on foot. When the plane finally came a runner
took off to bring Fernando back. But by the time they returned the plane
had left. Chief Fernando was ticked - angry because of the
mix-up.
He went to Jim Walton and started yelling. Fortunately - Jim Walton taped the chief's angry
tirade.
When Jim later translated it, he discovered that the chief kept
repeating the phrase, "I don't
have one heart." Jim asked other villagers what having "one
heart" meant and
he found that it was like saying, "There is
nothing between you and the other person." That - Jim realized - was
what he needed to translate the word peace. We experience peace within us when there’s nothing between
us and God - we have one heart with God - nothing is held back from Him. We bring God’s
peace into the circumstances of our lives - we act like His children in
the lives of those around us - when we’ve trusted God with our hearts. Bottom line: Mercy comes from God. Purity of
heart comes from God. Peace comes from God. We’re blessed because of God’s work in
our hearts. Say that with me, “God’s work in our hearts.” Then verses 10 to 12. “Blessed are who have been persecuted for the sake of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are
you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of
evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in
heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were
before you.”
In
all three verses the word of persecution is “dioko.” The idea is pursuit - a
relentless - dug-in - thought-through commitment to hurt somebody - to put
them down or destroy them. Anyone here enjoy watching the name of Jesus dragged
through the mud?
Or, Christians shredded in the media? Having your
morals and values and beliefs continually assaulted - ridiculed - or
laughed at?
While we’re trying to live for God at work or at school or out
doing the normal stuff of life - it is amazing how quickly - if we take
stand for God - it is amazing how quickly we can be put down - attacked -
marginalized - nailed for doing what meets God’s approval. The world loves to hate. It enjoys its
cherished hatreds. And it loves to relentlessly hate
Christians.
Behind all that is Satan. God is blessing this congregation. Amen? People are
coming to know Jesus. Lives are being changed. There are
increasingly amazing opportunities for ministry that God is opening up to
us. We’re
excited about all this. There’s a sense that we’re on in the
midst of something awesome. God is blessing. Do you think that Satan is just jumping for joy about
all this?
“Alright! Those people at Creekside are being
blessed by God.”
Satan hates us to the core of we are. John wrote, “Don’t be surprised if the world hates you.” (1 John 3:13). To follow Jesus is to be hated by the
world - to become a target of our Adversary. The people Jesus was talking to probably didn’t see
themselves on the same level as the Old Testament prophets. Most of us
don’t - see ourselves as legendary spiritual giants. But Jesus’
point is that its all the same battle - the prophets - the cross -
Merced.
God blessed those who have gone before us in the
battle.
God will bless us. As we suffer and struggle today we know
that God has prepared a great reward for us in heaven. Bottom line: We are blessed with an
eternal reward. Say that with me, “We are blessed with an eternal reward.” One thought of application. It is significant that Jesus shares the Sermon on the
Mount - on this hill by the Sea of Galilee. The people could look around. They’d see the
fields where many of them worked. Saw the sea where many of them
fished.
They could look off in the distance where the town was that many of
them were from.
Where they had their homes - families - businesses. All around
them were the things of their everyday lives. Jesus taught in places where people came to get water
- where people caught fish - collected taxes - shared their meals. He spoke in
synagogues.
But most of His contact with people was where they lived their
everyday lives.
God entering into the stuff of our lives. When Jesus talks about what it means to live in
relationship with the sovereign God - Jesus isn’t sharing some abstract
theological concept. He’s talking to people like us - who are
trying to live for God out there. People who are crunched for time. Who are
dealing with issues of stress and fatigue. Who often feel disappointed in
themselves.
Who wonder why their faith isn’t deeper. Who are
scaling back on their dreams. Who are trying to make it
financially.
People who’s bodies are increasingly unreliable. Wondering if
the best years of their lives are over. Who wonder how God is relevant to where
they live their lives outside of Sunday morning. Doesn’t your heart long to know the blessing of God’s
presence in your life? The One who sees you as you are and
loves you deeply - mercifully? Who longs to comfort and heal you? To fill you
with His peace?
To satisfy your deepest needs? The God who has prepared an eternity for
you with Him? Hear this - realize this for yourself - right now -
remind yourself of this each day this week - in the midst of whatever’s
going on in your life - God has come to you. God has
blessed you. Say that with me for yourself,
“God has blessed me.” _______________ 1) Sky Jethani, Glimpses of Glory, Leadership, Summer 2007 |