Seven Beatitudes

Well, good morning! It's still morning for a little bit longer. It's good to be here today. As you will remember, I'll pick up from where we were last week, as I gave an introduction to the sermon on the Mount. And we went through the background, some history, laid out about what the people were like, what they were going through, being the message was given to them.

But as we know, Jesus Christ also gave that message to us as we look down through the hundreds of years since that message was originally given. I hope all of you had a chance to study Matthew 5, especially the Beatitudes, because it's interesting as Jesus Christ was sitting there, starting His message. And as we read the first eight or nine verses there, we see that Jesus Christ is delivering something that had not really been given before.

It was a totally complete message for those who were going to follow Him, or those whom in which their desire was to be in the Kingdom of God. Now, as we know, the people were very poor people that He was talking to. He was talking to, as we looked into Galilee last week, we saw that they were an agrarian society.

They were fishermen. They were just people who worked with their hands, and they struggled as they were taxed by Herod Antipas, as we looked at. So it was amazing because there was great value in Jerusalem for all the products that were harvested, that were grown, that were collected in Galilee, being a region of agriculture. But when they had a great year, they were taxed, oppressively, by Herod, who said, Wow! They must be doing well! But not every year is a good year if you've done any farming or raised a garden, right? So all of a sudden, you might have one really good year out of five years.

But what happened to the government that Herod was over? Well, when next year wasn't as good, what did he say? You must be holding back. So I think we need to tax you more. So it was a very oppressive government that they were under. It was a struggle to maintain life and to have an enjoyment out of it. As one person actually wrote, it was hard to be happy in Galilee. And to this, Jesus Christ addressed the Sermon on the Mount. And as we read verses 3 through 12, it's almost as if he's saying, If you want to be in the kingdom of God, you will need to have these attitudes.

Because the first eight are considered the Beatitudes. I want to make a case next week that we're talking about actually 10 instead of 8. I will be covering 7 today. But it's as if he's saying, if you want to be in the kingdom of God, you will need to be like this. Not only are these Beatitudes of a follower of the way, but it also instructs us, if you look at it in that way, it actually tells us as a progression of a true Christian in his growth pattern, if you study it that way. So this Sermon on the Mount, especially Beatitudes, it's multi-dimensional.

You can read this and get so many different lessons from it. He's saying words here that the priests, the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees, they didn't teach. They taught the law, it's this way. And it's hard and it's harsh. And you need to get it in your head and you just need to do this. For Jesus Christ is teaching a concept of not just the mind, but the heart. It's the heart of exactly what God is and what he expects. So I would like you to go there today with me. Matthew 5, verse 3. One translation actually, instead of saying blessed, actually uses the old English term that this translated is happy.

But I will use blessed or happy here, either one, because when he said blessed, God blesses this type of person. God blesses this. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit. They were hearing this. Blessed are the meek. So blessed or happy created, I would say, more of a vision for the Galileans who were listening to this. They were hearing, I'm going to be blessed because they didn't feel very blessed. Wait a minute, I'm going to be happy? Doesn't have much happiness. Maybe I need to listen up.

But it also gave them hope, because not only is he telling you what we need to be, but he's going to tell you, if you are that way, this is what you're going to receive. What a blessing! You do this, you're going to get this. And guess what? This is pretty good, and it's a lot greater than what you have right now.

It's more of a hope for those under the iron fist of the Roman government and the dictatorial rule of Herod Antipas. But it also helps us to see that Jesus Christ is telling his followers.

There is a difference between a God-centered mind and a flesh-centered mind, even though that had been told for thousands of years. Jesus Christ was making it real as he was giving this message to all the people before him, and he tells that to us today. So if you would, I'd like you to go. Matthew 5 and verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit.

What a way to start out a sermon.

When are we blessed or feel blessed when we're poor in anything?

So I believe that probably God like, wow, wait a minute, maybe I need to listen up, but what's he saying? Blessed are the poor in spirit?

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

But I'd like to read from the New Living Translation because I like the way it's put. Because in the New Living Translation, it says, God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him.

That would resonate because you look and you read that, and you think, wow, I need, I need God in my life. Maybe if I had more God in my life, it might not be so hard.

Jesus Christ is addressing spiritual poverty. They knew about poverty. Any of you that's ever tried to make a living off farming, or maybe you've had a tough year in whatever business, you know what it's like when things get tough.

But he's also showing that the beginning of godly repentance is recognizing that we are spiritually bankrupt.

We need to realize that. It's how we usually start out our life when God starts to call us. We begin to open up and say, wow, I guess I don't have it all figured out. Guess my life's a mess!

Recognizing one's inability to become righteous on one's own is an incredible knowledge that we can possess.

You know, for them, the proverbial light bulb hopefully came on. That an actual acknowledgement of our source of salvation is outside of ourselves.

So when you study just the first line, you realize ingenious.

Because your first lines on any message needs to draw people to you. There's a lot of times people will hear something, and I've heard that before. They had never heard this one before. Blessed are the poor in spirit! For theirs is the kingdom of heaven! That's me! Sign me up! Put me in first class for the kingdom of God because I am poor in spirit.

Then let's look at the second one. Actually, in verse 4, Bless are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Wow! Another one slaps you. I'm supposed to be happy when I'm on!

Is it uplifting or not? You know, not about feeling bad, but it's about a condition of the heart.

We have all gone through mourning, and it is so great when we have people that comfort us.

Whether you've lost... I know Sherri lost her father within months after I lost mine. And so you can talk to someone, wow, this this hole, this hole in my gut right now will get better. It's going to take time. And you understand what a great man her father was. You're able to relay that. And what a comfort it is for any of you going through a problem. Yes, I've had that before. You know, all of us had financial problems. Warren Buffett's not sitting out there today. Right, Maurice? We've all gone through, and we're able to talk about that and go, you know, well, you might try this. Yeah, I've had to do this. And we cut back here. That's a comfort to each one of us. Imagine this as Jesus Christ is telling them, Bless are those who mourn, for you will be comforted. God is going to comfort you. You can't get a better comfort than that, can you?

And we look at ourselves, if you look at the first part, and we realize that we're poor in spirit, you take the next one, and you look at your life, and you begin to mourn over, wow, I really need to change. And then, once you make that change, then you're able to actually look at the world and see the very first one, poor in spirit, and you realize this world needs God. If you didn't look at the news this week, the world needs God, brethren, right?

And you begin to actually mourn for the world.

And you wish the world could be comforted, like God is offering you comfort.

Incredible, incredible lessons.

And then he says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. In the next verse, isn't it amazing, and I hope you read, because this is a sermon on the Mount which takes up Matthew 5, Matthew 6, and Matthew 7. And he's up there on the mountain, giving this message. And if you've gone ahead, I hope some of you have, or you remember your scriptures, he comes off of that mountain, and two amazing things happen. And it's almost as if God just arranged this. So not only do you hear it, you're going to be able to see it. Because as he walks off that mountain, who is he confronted by? The leper. The leper that nobody wants. Talk about poor in spirit. The one that's mourning, because all he's got in front of him is a ghastly death. And what does Jesus Christ do? He reaches out when no one will touch this man, and he reaches and touches him. And he just gets done with that, and what happens? Here the centurion shows up. He says, can you heal my servant? Here is this centurion, like a colonel in today's army. He didn't need to, he didn't even need to ask Christ. He could have said, you will go here. But what did he do? He showed a meekness. He gave an example, and what did Christ reward that sight of the meekness with? I have not seen such faith in all of Israel.

Now, do you think Christ was alone, or do you think those people followed him off the mountain, and he got to see? Examples. Isn't that incredible?

Bless the Lord the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. In Greek, the actual word for meek is praus, P-R-A-U-S, praus. And it actually means power under control. I've mentioned that before here. Power under control. You go, well, wait a minute, meek power under control? You know, it's interesting, a hundred years ago in the South, horse breeders and horse racers used to have this phrase, the meekest horse wins the race. See, they understood a little bit different. The meekest horse wins the race, because we equate meekness with weakness. That's not it. The meekest horse wins the race, because the meek horse is the one who has most responded to his training.

Brethren, do we humbly respond to our trainer, Jesus Christ? Matthew 5 and verse 6, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be what? Filled. Filled. Remember the audience? You think they didn't know what hunger and thirst meant? If you've ever worked in the field, you ever worked outside, try it this way, right, Bruce? Work outside mowing some yards. The heat drains you, and you need water, because you've already got it all over you, and it ain't inside you anymore. Right? And there's that thirst. And if you've ever had to go without food, you know what it is, boy. Stomach. Ah, needs something to eat. Zaps you of energy. So these people knew about this. They could relate, because hunger and thirst are characteristics of the oppressed and the downtrodden. And that's who they were. He had an understanding audience from Galilee. You know, because your farmers, those who raise crops, they don't take care of themselves. Right? And any farmer will tell you, Mary and I were both raised on farms, and one of the things that we knew was going to help get us through was a garden. In Tennessee, you're going to have a garden. Alabama, you're going to have a garden, because we weren't rich. And we were going to do canning and freezing. So, of course, you had food. That's how they were. But you also realized you couldn't just throw seed out there and then harvest it 90 days later. It had to be worked. It had to be picked. It's hard. These people realize it. And as Thessalonians, as second Thessalonians, 3.10, Paul had to tell the Thessalonians who were too good to do physical labor, and they came to the church, and they go, well, wait a minute. We're real educated. We don't really need to work. And so the church needs to keep us up. Remember what he said? Very crystal clear. You don't work. You don't eat.

And that's what it was in Galilee. They knew if they didn't work, they weren't going to eat. There wasn't anything going to bail them out.

The spiritual lesson was one his audience could just drink in.

Bless to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. He's talking about righteousness!

Because he said, you will be filled. Right? Isn't that amazing? There was a movie many years ago called Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner. Anybody see that movie? Field of Dreams. And they had this message or this line through it. If you build it, they will come.

Well, Jesus Christ was saying something like this then.

If you desire righteousness, it will come. God will fill you up. But it starts with you and it starts with me. We must desire righteousness. We must hunger and thirst for it.

One translation of the Bible said, bless to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness more than for food and drink. Hmm. Matthew 5, verse 7.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Hmm. Mercy, justice. Mercy, justice. Which do you want? There is a big difference between them.

Justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is getting what you don't deserve. Right?

Mercy or justice? Justice. Which do you want? I ask you as a church. You want mercy or you want justice?

What did you say, Bruce? He's the only one that wants mercy. You want mercy? Say, mercy.

Mercy.

Good. Now I ask you another question. Which one do you give?

Do we? Do we give mercy? As much as we want mercy, do we give mercy?

Yes.

What does Christ say later in Matthew 6? Yes.

And we'll cover that.

Forgive us as we what? Forgive others. If we want mercy, we need to give mercy.

And if you have mercy, right?

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Matthew 5 and verse 8.

Matthew 5 and verse 8. Blessed are the pure in heart.

Ooh, that's a mouthful, isn't it?

Pure in heart. What does that mean?

Yeah, and the Greek word for pure, which they translate from pure, actually means in its lowest form, its basest form, clean. Clean.

Pure or clean? Well, a lot of times we don't associate that, but it's generally associated.

If something's pure, you think it's pretty clean, right?

But the phrase actually implies the absence in the Greek of filth, the absence of filth.

The absence of something that is obscene.

Vulgar.

Emoral.

See, now we're getting...we're talking about a change of the heart here, because we just we just talked about the Emporian spirit and meek and mourn, but now, guess what? It's kind of like the heat's being turned up a little bit. You want to be in this kingdom? This is how we need to conduct our lives. And you're going to go all the way from the heart feeling kind of bad about how you live to actually doing something about that chamber that the Bible refers to as the heart, and what's in it. And let's clean it. Let's clean it out. Let's get it out. And then, once you get it out and clean it out, it's a little bit easier to try to keep it clean, because there's always immoral obscene, filthy things that get into our hearts.

This is what He wants us to do. And it's interesting because you go back and you look at the Old Testament and there was all these physical washings, and the priests really had to do all these washings. But all these physical washings, as Jesus Christ tried to teach His disciples, it's more important that you clean the inside of the bowl. You spiritually clean in the heart, you get some of this stuff out. So, blessed are the pure in heart.

For He says, you will do what? If you do this, you will see God. Isn't that amazing? I want to see God.

Yes, Melita wants seen. Hope we can see Him together. I guess that's why Proverbs 23 verse 7 says, As He thinketh in His heart, so is He. So even back then, you want to clean your life up, you want to become more righteous, it's got to be the heart. Remember what David said?

God, create in me. There's only one Creator. None of this stuff just came up, evolved.

There was a Creator, and David knew that, and he said, as we should say many times, create in me a clean heart. So he can cleanse that heart. Then we can really begin to see Him as we've never seen Him, and see His Word as we've never seen Him. And eventually, we will truly see Him as He is. First John 3 said, Finally, I'd like to go to the last one that I will cover today. And I'm only covering seven, but I'd like you to consider if you read, because we're going to go through these during the next few weeks. I'd like you to consider the thought that it was on a mountain called Sinai that God first verbally brought out the Ten Commandments. They weren't written in stone at the first. He pronounced them, scared the daylights out of the people. And He gave these Ten Commandments to help them live decent, physical lives, and that hopefully they could take that to the next step, which most didn't, did they?

Here were the commandments, the ordinances, and there were ten.

And so here, later, Jesus Christ is on a mountain. Proclaiming, and I would like you to think about that. Ten concepts of not only the Beatitudes, but also salt and light. Concepts for those who truly want to live and be a Christ-like person. We're going to go through that next week as we start with the eighth and go through them and finish chapter five. I'd like it to wrap up here with Matthew 5 and verse 9. I want you to think about this as we think about the world today.

What does it say? Blessed are the...what? Peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers. For they shall be called what? Sons of God.

You're going to be just like Christ? This is incredible calling. Blessed are the peacemakers.

So we see that pure of heart helps us see God. That's a promise, but this one really moves it up another level. It says, no, you're just not going to see Him. You're going to be part of the family. You're going to be a son. Children of God, as one interpretation said. As a matter of fact, the New Living Translation said, God blesses those who work for peace, for they shall be called the children of God. Do you live peace? It's not always easy in this society. Is there a state of peace inside you so that when others lose control, you maintain it? You keep it. It's very hard, even when you're lied to and mistreated, as I felt this week one time.

And it was all I could do. I just, man, where's my peace?

Peace is first and foremost internal. I hope you realize that. Peace is in here.

It comes from here. Don't we all know someone? We would say, man, now that is a peaceful person.

They are such at peace with the world, how they live.

We all know that person. We can probably see it if we think of it right now.

But you see, for us, it is not eternal, internal. It is spiritual.

Being a peacemaker is spiritual, because it flies against everything that is human.

Somebody mistreats you. I'll take that. Let me handle that.

Blessed are the peacemakers. They shall be sons of God. Sons of God. I hope you will dwell on that this week. I hope you will also look at Matthew 5, verse 10, because that is a very, very...the eighth beatitude is one we all are supposed to look forward to. But it's the one we probably all most dread.