The Kingdom Reward for Righteousness

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Let’s open our Bibles to Matthew Chapter 4, we’re going to read starting in verse 23 and read till verse 12 in chapter 5.

Matthew 4:23–5:12 NASB95

Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. 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.

My sermon this afternoon is titled “The Kingdom Reward for Righteousness”, and this text will teach us something about the true righteousness.

Let’s Pray

Intro

Blessed is a word that gets kinda thrown around today isn’t it?

Steph Curry the pro basketball player often claims he’s “blessed” all the time, usually because of his family or because he did well in a game or because of his wealth

And it’s not just him. If you watch interviews with celebrities they will pretty often say how Blessed they are, how they’re so thankful for all they have and where they are, they’re so Blessed.

Even Christians will talk about how they’re blessed because of all these physical, worldly things. They’ll post on facebook how they’re so blessed to have an amazing family.

Those things are all great things.

But what does it actually mean to be Blessed? What does the Bible say?

Well Jesus in the beginning of his Sermon on the mount defined what kind of person is blessed, in about 10 verses that are often titled “The Beatitudes”

That word beatitudes isn’t in the original greek manuscripts because it’s a title given by man to the text to organize and understand it.

The word is related to the latin word beatus, which means blessed. And Jesus has been spending all this time with people who are sick and suffering and demon-possessed, and epileptic and paralyzed, preaching the good news of the kingdom of heaven to them and healing them.

He sees all these crowds following him everywhere, and decides to go up on the mountain. They follow him up there and he sits, and begins to teach them. Does that sound familiar? Where in the bible before was there a man who led crowds of lowly people to the top of a mountain and taught them?

It was Moses! Throughout his Gospel account, Matthew portrays the life of Jesus, and he has a specific image he wants the reader to see. His goal is to show the reader how Jesus is like a New Moses.

Moses gave God’s law to Israel on top of Mount Sinai, and now Jesus is going to preach to Jews on this mountain, re-interpreting the law of moses. He’s correcting a lot of the understanding of what they knew to be true about their God and the law, and one of those corrections is what blessing is, and who is Blessed.

So lets read verses 3-8

Matthew 5:3–8 NASB95

“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.

Verse 3

The poor in spirit receive the kingdom of heaven. Poor in spirit can be confusing at first, but it is referring to those who recognize their spiritual poverty. It’s THESE people who are rewarded The Kingdom of Heaven.

Just a side note real quick, whenever Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven we might automatically think of the future Church, or we might think of the future new creation. And it might seem like it must be one or the other, but the kingdom of heaven is actually both!

It’s kind of an already/not yet mindset where yes, the Kingdom of heaven is those who put their faith in Jesus and are on Earth as his church, but it also going to be fully realized as a true and complete Kingdom when Jesus reigns on the throne in the new creation.

With that being said, lets continue.

The spiritually lowly people get the kingdom, it’s theirs. I can just imagine Jesus saying this and everyone awkwardly looking at the rich Pharisees who brag about their spiritual wealth.

It’s not them who get the kingdom, but the poor in spirit. The people who recognize their own sinfulness and wickedness and shame, and their need for a savior, those people get the Kingdom. Those who know they are sinful are treated like they’re righteous.

Verse 4

those who mourn will be comforted. Jesus, teaching all these people who are going through so much, doesn’t discard or diminish mourning. He specifically says that they are blessed. And not only are they blessed, but they receive comfort. Nothing can replace whoever or whatever they lost, but they will be comforted by God.

They aren’t comforted by just getting over it, or by buying stuff off amazon, or by ignoring their feelings. They seek God in their time of grief, and he comforts them. All throughout the Old Testament God comforts the mourning, and Jesus teaches Israel again that they will be comforted. Even in their mourning they are Blessed. And how great will their comfort be when they are in the kingdom of heaven.

And think about how mourning comes right after being poor in spirit. they are poor in spirit, recognizing their absolute depravity of spirituality and knowing how sinful they are. it makes them mourn, and Jesus says that they will be comforted.

Verse 5

the gentle will inherit the earth. your translation might say the humble, or the meek. in direct contrast to the world of tyrants and dictators and empires, Jesus says the meek will inherit the earth. The humble inherit the earth. these are the people who seek God for rescue, seek God for guidance. notice the similarities to being poor in spirit, but rather than getting the kingdom, here inheriting the earth is the reward. It’s those who are willing to submit to christ and turn aside from their own desires, the humble, who inherit the earth. And as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, they will enjoy the whole earth in new creation under God’s kingship.

and think about this now after they’ve mourned their spiritual poverty; they are humbled. they have an attitude of humility and meekness about them in light of how spiritually poor they really are.

Verse 6

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. these are those whose desire, their need, is righteousness. Again, this person recognizes their own unrighteousness and therefore HUNGERS and THIRSTS for righteousness.

They humbly recognize that they are spiritually poor, starving and parched for righteousness. they hunger and thirst for righteousness, and are satisfied by Jesus.

Their starving need for righteousness will be met. Ultimately, they will see that fulfilled in the future kingdom of heaven, when they are in the full presence of the embodiment of righteousness.

Verse 7

The merciful are blessed. In turn, those who show mercy receive mercy. the merciful are those who do not give others the punishment they deserve, and because of their mercy that they show others, God gives them mercy. God does not favor vengeance and ruthlessness from his people, but instead mercy.

The Pharisees came down on a paralytic for carrying his mat on the Sabbath after being miraculously healed in John 5. The Pharisees accused Jesus and his disciples of breaking the law of Moses by “working” when they took leftover grain from fields when they were hungry travelers in Matthew 12.

It was actually in the law of Moses, Leviticus 23, for field owners to not collect all the grain in their field, but to leave some on the edges for the poor and foreigners. But since it was Sabbath they immediately condemned it.

The Pharisees were legalistic. They had no mercy when it came to obeying God, no room for exceptions. They even added to the law to make sure they wouldn’t break it.

Jesus says instead, the merciful are blessed, and they receive mercy.

these people recognize the mercy they have been given and seek to show others mercy. they seek to find out how they can minister to others and help others.

They respond to their persecutors with mercy. And since they are shown mercy from their sin, they are part of the kingdom of heaven.

Verse 8

The pure in heart are blessed. Their reward is getting to see God. Their integrity is blameless, and pure in heart! Jesus isn’t saying that it is somehow possible to be completely sinless and pure in our flesh; not at all.

Again, think about the religious leaders. Jesus would go and compare them to whitewashed tombs in Matthew 23. On the outside they were beautiful and pure and clean, but the instead held dead man’s bones, impure and unclean to a Jew. The religious leaders portrayed themselves as righteous and godly on the outside but were full of pride and sin and greed on the inside.

Instead, Jesus says that the pure in heart are blessed. Not the ones who put on their Sunday best and a plastic smile. Those who had integrity in all they did, and loved God. In 1 Samuel 16, God choses David to be king, the one who was a man after God’s heart, over all his good looking brothers. It’s the integrity of the will and actions that God blesses.

these people are pure in heart in the first place because they have put faith in jesus and have been purified. their heart is clean and pure. what a comfort to their mourning! Their humility and faith has gotten them purified.

And they are rewarded with seeing God! What a controversial statement. Jesus knows exactly what he’s doing as he claims that a human can see God. He’s talking about the future. The pure in heart are citizens of the kingdom of God and will one day see God in his full glory in heaven.

My first point is

“A righteous spirit leads to kingdom citizenship.”

It’s really easy to be self-righteous. It’s easy to think you’re spiritually wealthy because you’ve been a Christian for so long, or because you did ministry. But to be a citizen in the kingdom of heaven Jesus says to be lowly, poor in spirit, to humble yourself and recognize the necessity for God to work in your life. Jesus says that hunger and thirst for righteousness is satisfied. If you seek righteousness, you’ll get it. And ultimately, Jesus’s righteousness is imputed, meaning it is given, to us, when we put our faith and trust in Him. Not that we are made righteous, no, we are declared righteous. We are justified.

and A righteous spirit leads to kingdom citizenship.

It’s so easy to sit in mourning and isolate yourself. I’m sure many of you are experiencing mourning right now. People you love get sick and die. Maybe you’re grieving from feeling ignored and forgotten by friends and family. Maybe you’re not mourning because of a physical need but a spiritual one. you might be realizing just how sinful you are and that makes you just GRIEVE. Our sin grieves the heart of God and it should grieve our own hearts too. Those feelings causes such an INTENSE GRIEF, MOURNING, ANGUISH in your heart. Theres this pain and suffering felt from the loss.

But Jesus says that citizens of the kingdom, people who are blessed, they are comforted by God. So in that moment when your heart is breaking, seek God for comfort. Read the Psalms and see them cry out to God in their time of mourning, saying he is their rock, refuge, and fortress. God is your comforter too.

A righteous spirit leads to kingdom citizenship.

Christians today can be ruthless and unforgiving. We yell at people who cut us off in traffic and hold grudges with friends and family who have wronged us. We get into arguments on Facebook with people who don’t agree with our Political views. We criticize and mock sinners, either to their face or to other brothers and sisters.

This past Thursday, my wife and I were watching Shark Tank. It’s always fun to see what things people come up with and figure out what deals the Sharks might make. But in that episode a man walks down that iconic hallway. Short hair, a beard, and a manly build. But when he speaks, it’s clear he was not always a he. This was a woman who has become a man through surgeries and injections, and her product was actually a carrying case for those injections for the trans community.

I was immediately criticizing her and mocking her to my wife. I made all kinds of jabs at her and was super critical.

And, filled with the Holy Spirit, my wife paused the show and turned to me, and began to rebuke me! She told me that it seemed like I was being very critical and unloving to this person, whether or not I was talking to them face to face, and told me how this happened in other situations too. Then she asked me if Jesus would be talking about sinners the way I was.

Ouch. Lemme tell ya, my pride took a beating from that. I took some time to think about what she said, because I immediately knew she was right. I had to come to terms with just how sinful I was acting by treating these people like this.

It’s so easy to act like that, to look at someone else’s sin and criticize them. But mercy is the heart of God. He showed us mercy by pouring out his wrath not on us, but on his own Son. He didn’t punish us for sin. Instead of being repulsed by others sin, first be repulsed by your own, recognizing how you need mercy just as much as they do. Be merciful; God will show you mercy.

A righteous spirit leads to kingdom citizenship.

We live in a time where the term “Cultural Christianity” exists. People put on the facade of being a bible-loving church goer with the perfect, sinless life. The church will wear elaborate, clean clothing to Sunday morning and say “Amen” to it all.

But there are some who are whitewashed tombs. They do all the right things and say they’re doing well in bible study. They put on that fake smile because they’re expected to. They fear others and their opinions, so they attend the worship service every Sunday. But their soul is lost. There’s an emptiness because they do all the what, but they have no real why.

Jesus doesn’t desire the righteous on the outside, he wants those who are pure in heart! Who have that integrity that shows that they are clean on the inside. they live righteous lives and do all the righteous things because they are truly redeemed by the King, not because they are good actors. He desires Holy-Spirit filled followers of Christ.

A righteous spirit leads to kingdom citizenship.

Story

I read a story last night about a brother in Christ named Khaled. He lives in the Middle East where persecution is rampant.

His family struggles every single day. He has lost all his possessions—twice. He used to own a furniture store in his Middle Eastern country, but due to the ongoing war in the region, everything he and his family owned was destroyed.

They relocated, but then a missile landed on their new building on Good Friday. By a miracle from God, his family came out safely, despite all of his surrounding neighbors dying in the attack. It put him in a coma for three days.

Khaled said

“On Good Friday, the suffering of the Lord and the crucifixion occurred. That happened to us. We suffered and lost everything. But after three days, Christ rose, and so you will raise us up with Christ so that we can return to live with hope,”

In an instant, once again, everything he owned was destroyed.

He went from owning his house, a warehouse, managing workers, to working for a friend to pay rent.

Khaled is more than 60 years old, but he has not given up. He relies on God for everything.

Let’s ready verses 9-12

Matthew 5:9–12 NASB95

“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.

Verse 9

the peacemakers are blessed. these people are not quarrelers but make peace. They don’t antagonize or cause drama or problems; in fact, they make peace, they resolve conflict. When they are insulted by others, when people revile them and say all kinds of evil about them, they don’t fight back, but are peacemakers. They don’t get stirred up into fights but make peace. The kingdom of God is a kingdom at peace and it’s citizens reflect that, they are peacemakers.

And their reward is that they are called sons of God. What an honor to be called a son of God. The God of peace values peacemakers. They are in the kingdom of God, and are called his sons, a wonderful and valuable title because God has made you wonderful and valuable because of Him.

verse 10-11

those persecuted for the sake of righteousness, those who are insulted and persecuted because of Christ, they are Blessed! They receive the kingdom of heaven. On this earth, they may feel beaten down and attacked. They may literally be beaten down and attacked. They may be slandered and insulted. All because of the identity of their master. It was true then and it’s true today: people don’t like Jesus. He said things that people thought were extreme and radical. The religious leaders fought hard to find reasons to slander him and eventually made a way to kill him. And the book of Acts takes an account of how they treated his followers. Jesus knows all of what will happen. His followers will be mistreated on earth. they will be insulted and mocked and persecuted.

But their reward, their hope, makes all the suffering worth it. they will receive the kingdom of God. they will get to experience the blessing of glory with the father. they get to experience the happiness of gathering with others who love Christ and worshipping him. they get the kingdom.

verse 12

not only that, but they are also like the prophets.

God sent his prophets to come and tell his nation to cease their unrighteousness and turn to him. And how were they treated in response?

Isaiah is said to possibly have been sawed in half by order of King Manasseh of Judah

Jeremiah was mocked and scorned and is one of the most persecuted prophets in the Bible,

And most recent to Jesus, John the Baptist, who was often insulted and condemned by pharisees. He eventually was arrested and beheaded by King Herod.

The pedigree of persecution is full of Old Testament Prophets who were mocked and killed. Jesus compares the people who insult and persecute today to the Hebrews from before who mistreated the prophets.

He says to rejoice and be glad in response to persecution, a teaching which his half-brother James would echo in James 1. He said to rejoice and be glad because despite the persecution and punishment on earth, the reward in heaven would be great. They would have the kingdom of heaven!

There will persecution because of Jesus. There will be insults and evil things said to Jesus-followers. But they can rejoice and look to the future reward.

my second point is

“righteousness is met with rejection and reward”

Jesus pretty much guarantees that godly character will result in people insulting you and persecuting you. it’s unavoidable. It can result in people who reject the gospel and Jesus, rejecting you and cutting you out of their life. it can cause you to losing your job because you’ve been asked to not tell people about the good news of Jesus. It can cause people to publicly mock you and humiliate you and jeer at you. All of that is just in the mild persecution of the united states.

in other countries, speaking against Islam can make you an enemy of the state. You can get arrested for having a copy of the Bible in China. Our brothers and sister in christ are being beaten, abused sexually, and even murdered all across the world.

righteousness is met with rejection and reward.

Jesus says “when” they persecute you, not if. This is an expectation that it will happen to people who follow jesus. people who meet the description found in the beatitudes.

Theres people in this room who have rarely been persecuted, and might be hearing this and be thinking “Persecution isn’t really a big thing in the west.” Maybe you’re thinking, “I’ve never been mocked for my christianity. No one has ever treated me differently.”

If that’s true, and you’ve never been persecuted, or you haven’t been recently, then that’s not a good thing. you need to evaluate yourself, look at the spiritual character qualities listed in verses 3-9 and throughout scripture, and find out where you aren’t following Christ.

Christians who live without persecution, pray for boldness. discern where you’re lacking. For me, I need to be more merciful, and more bold. Find out what it is for you, repent of your sin, and obey God!

Following Jesus isn’t just a part of your life; it is your life. make it the focus of your life. make it the main thing. when following Jesus is your purpose, persecution will come.

For those in the room who know persecution and have been through it, they know the future hope. the persecution isn’t the end of the road. jesus reward us, either in his second coming, or when we die. the reward in heaven will be great when we follow Him.

righteousness is met with rejection and reward.

Closing + Gospel

Simon Tugwell said

The beatitudes are a call to us to see ourselves, to live with ourselves, in a way that probably does not come easily to most of us.

Simon Tugwell

Now there might be some of you in this room aren’t following Jesus. And maybe you think following Jesus means just doing good things and being a nice person so God will love you and let you into heaven.

The truth is, Jesus is teaching something totally different than that in this passage. Jesus is saying to be poor in spirit. Recognize how spiritually poor you are. We are all sinners and have all fallen short of the glory of God. And recognizing just how imperfect and guilty of sin you are is being poor in spirit. It’s the humility in realizing how broken you are and how in need you are.

He also describes a hunger and thirst for righteousness. when you realize that you are unrighteous, and that we are all unrighteous, you should hunger and thirst for it! But that isn’t something you can go satisfy on your own. You can’t just go to Chick Fil A and be satisfied, there is only one who can satisfy the hunger for righteousness. That’s Christ. Recognize that you are spiritually starving and seek God to satisfy your hunger for righteousness.

When you recognize that you are sinful, and in need of a savior, God will save you, not because you’re good, but because he loves you despite the fact that you’re bad. When you realize you’re not enough, but God is, he will rescue you. He’ll forgive your sins and make you a citizen of his kingdom. That isn’t just a change after life, that is a change today.

So if you’ve never made that decision, and you want to receive the hope of the gospel, then I invite you to make that decision right now! Recognize just how poor in spirit you are and how desperately you need God, and believe that Jesus paid for you sin on the cross with his death, and that his resurrection three days later brought new, eternal life to your soul, so that you can be with God, and have the hope of heaven.

Let’s Pray.