A World Turned Upside Down

big idea: God is going to turn this broken world upside down

Intro me

Last week, we talked about what we think Jesus is trying to do with this first big block of teaching in Matthew’s gospel, often called the Sermon on the Mount (because Jesus goes up on a mount(ain)... then delivers a sermon, get it?). Our conclusion? This is Jesus’ blueprint for his kingdom of transformed hearts. This is his good plan for what he wants the lives of his people to actually begin to look like - as we’re increasingly transformed by him. He wants us, his church, to actually be his Kingdom breaking into the world, making his goodness tangible to those around us, something they can see, touch, experience.

Jesus’ blueprint for his kingdom of transformed hearts. Ok. So today we’re going to look closely at how this blueprint starts - what’s at the top, as it were. The intro. And it begins with a set of short sayings often called the beatitudes, a fancy word coming from the Latin beati which just means blessed. Why don’t we begin this morning by reading through them. It’s a short set you can find in Matthew chapter 5 starting at verse 3 and Alex is going to read for us today. Page 968 in these blue bibles - Matthew chapter 5 - look for the big 5 and verse 3. Page 968.

Matthew 5:3–10 NIV

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Thanks Alex. I have to tell you there has been a lot of ink spilled (and lots of my time spent trying to take in as much of that as I can) - a vast amount has been written about these beatitudes, how we are to understand them, what their structure is, what patterns there are here. And for the most part, at least when it comes to structure and patterns, there are lots of competing ideas, but there’s no firm consensus.

That said, lots of scholars and commentators see a change or turning point in v6: Jesus seems to begin with a set of problems will be resolved - those who mourn will be comforted, for example - then you have this longer line which stands out about those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, before we move on to a set of virtues or actions that will be reciprocated: the merciful are shown mercy; it bounces back. So verse 6 feels like a bit of a hinge.

As we begin our journey into Jesus’ teaching here, my plan is to break them up at that point - I think that turning point in v6 is really important. It might not seem like many words to work with but don’t fret - there’s a whole lot to think about here.

Let me give you a map for today so you can see where we’re going - and so you know that we are actually going somewhere. Conveniently you’ll also be able to tell when we’re nearly done. WHAT>WHO> WHY>HOW, and, of course, we couldn’t finish without the obligatory SO WHAT. Ready?

What does it mean to be “blessed”?

We have some work to do even on the very first word, in fact. Blessed. What does that mean? What is Jesus saying? Well, what do you think of when you think of being blessed? When would you call yourself blessed, or think of someone else being blessed? A photo where you’re looking fab with a big smile on the beach somewhere epic? That’s #blessed Instagram-style.

In my head, the first thing I’d think of is things being good in some way for me, and I’m making a nod towards God as being behind that. Some bible translations into simplified English just use the word “happy” instead. Happy are the poor in spirit.

But is that really what it means? How good could things be going if you’re in mourning? how happy could you really be? It doesn’t simply mean happy - and it’s not quite as simple as saying you’re the recipient of a divine blessing either.

What “blessed” is trying to communicate is that you’re in a good place, the right place - and you should be congratulated on it - others would want to share it. One Australian commentator says “Good on ‘ya mate” gets the sense across well. Being in a good place is not the same as being happy.

There’s more to say here but we have a lot of ground to cover today. So if that’s what blessed means, next question:

Who is blessed?

Now these are not the first beatitudes in the bible, not the first “blessed are”-style proclamation - in fact there are 45 in the OId Testament, 23 in the Psalms alone. But Jesus is doing something pretty unusual here - there’s a bit of a surprise for us - and it starts with who’s blessed.

If you were to dig up some of the beatitudes in the Pslams, the song book of God’s ancient people - for example, Psalm 1 starts with one - you’d find again and again the pattern is that good people, righteous people, admirable people, are the ones who are called blessed. Let me give you some examples:

Psalm 1:1–2 NIV

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

Psalm 106:3 NIV

Blessed are those who act justly, who always do what is right.

Psalm 128:1 NIV

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.

Psalm 119:1 NIV

Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.

I could go on, but you get the picture, you see the pattern. The norm is to say “good on ‘ya” to good people who are doing right stuff. Virtuous folk. And good on them! That makes sense, right?

But look at who Jesus declares blessed in our first three beatitudes: the poor in spirit; those who mourn; the meek. That feels like a very different kind of list. That’s not do-gooders, nice folk, or even necessarily godly people. Let’s dig each of those up a little bit and see if it gets any clearer why these sort of people make it onto Jesus’ list.

First up, the poor in spirit - and you might remember Jesus says something similar in Luke’s gospel; there it’s simply the poor who are blessed. Who’s in view here? There are multiple words in the bible’s original language for the poor - here the one used is at the extreme end of the scale. It means someone “so poor that he lives not by his own labour or industry, but on other men’s alms” - so poor that they are utterly dependent, reliant on charity.

And poor in spirit - what does that mean? Although it’s an attractive idea, commentators are agreed this isn’t simply about lacking God’s holy Spirit - you can see our translation picking up on that here: notice the lower-case s “spirit”? If it meant “short of God’s Spirit”, no Christian could be “poor in spirit” as the bible teaches every one of us has God’s Spirit.

Instead, the “in spirit” bit kind of expands the poverty we’re talking about; it extends to attitude, state of mind. This total insufficiency, and so dependency, goes beyond just the material, the physical - lacking stuff - and makes it a more total, more universal: utter insufficiency in every way. Utter dependency.

The poor in spirit are those who have nothing to bring to the table. Nothing to offer. Nothing to contribute. And they are utterly dependent as a result - utterly dependent on God in particular. That what this phrase is getting at. Those are the first people on Jesus’ list with a #blessed next to them.

Second, blessed are those who mourn. Jesus doesn’t specify why - just those who mourn. My mind automatically leaps to grief and bereavement, to those mourning the loss of a loved one. And I think that has to be at least part of what Jesus is getting at - in Mark 16:10 this same word is used to describe the disciples’ response to Jesus’ death. But it also has a more general sense of being sad, of grieving - not just in response to loss.

Let’s be frank: there’s plenty in our world that should make us mourn like that - which does make us mourn like that. I expect everyone’s experienced something first-hand which brings tears to your eyes. And some more than others - I know there are people in this room with experiences which are incredibly painful, hurtful, tragic. That’s included in this phrase “those who mourn”.

Even where we don’t know this pain first hand, seeing the brokenness in our world and how it works out, the tragic damage and terrible pain so many experience can really leave us grieving, mourning - and I think it should. We should feel that, not practice developing a stiff upper lip and a hard heart which can look on, unmoved.

Who mourns? Those who see and know our world is broken, that we ourselves are broken.

Third, blessed are the meek. Meek is a bit of an odd word, a bit unusual. I don’t know what it brings to your mind? I get a picture of a mouse, cowering, fearful. But that’s not what the word really means - or meant. Jesus describes himself with this same word and he’s no fearful coward.

If we trace this word around the bible, it’s used to describe those who are bowed down, often physically, under oppression, but also in worship; it’s used to describe the hard-pressed, the needy, the poor - metaphorically bowed down. If you were to rank people top to bottom, from important folk to nobodies, this word is used for the nobodies. People who don’t pull rank - mostly people who simply couldn’t pull rank - they have nothing to pull on.

When Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, not on a warhorse in shining armour and billowing robes, that’s described with this same word. He’s coming as a nobody, not the king - that’s meek; being a nobody. The word itself quite a virtue, though, like we might think of it. Although Jesus is truly the king but chooses to come as a nobody, being meek is about being the nobody; you’re still meek if you’re just nobody in the first place, not only when you’re truly a king. That make sense?

Ok, so let’s recap: who’s blessed? those who have nothing to bring to the table and know it; those who feel this world’s brokenness - and their own; those who are just nobodies, bowed down.

What I want us to notice together is the way this list starts isn’t simply by describing the good, the righteous, the virtuous - the ones who we normally hear blessed, the ones we might reasonably expect to be blessed. Jesus doesn’t start his teaching setting out a bar we need to get over, a standard we must achieve; instead I think he begins with a bar no-one’s under. Does that make sense?

Rather than seeing this as an exclusive set of blessings, reserved for only a few high achievers, I think what we’ve got here is a radically inclusive set of blessings, where no-one is ruled out, no matter how empty, how broken, how bowed down. Jesus’ kingdom isn’t going to be built from winners, top performers, superstars. Restricted to the elite. Jesus’ kingdom is going to be built from the ordinary, the broken, the hurting, the empty. It’s a bar everyone can reach.

Why call them blessed?

So we’ve talked about what: what does it mean to be blessed? “good on ‘ya”, remember.

And we’ve talked about who: who fits these categories Jesus declares blessed.

Now let’s turn to the question why: Why call people like this blessed? Why is it “good on ‘ya”? What on earth is good about being ordinary, broken, hurting, empty? Why are people like that in a good place?

The short answer? Because God’s going to turn this world upside down. Because things are going to change.

The nobodies, the ordinaries? They’re going to be lifted up: they’ll inherit the whole earth; they’ll literally own the place. And inheriting here isn’t so much about money moving down the family tree when someone dies, it’s more picking up on the Jewish sense of inheritance: your inheritance was your family’s plot, their slice, their place in the promised land. An inheritance meant provision; stability, security; identity, belonging. (Ps 37:11)

The broken, the hurting? They’re going to be comforted. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. God will wipe away every tear. (Rev 21:4)

The empty, those with nothing to offer? That’s exactly who belongs in Jesus’ kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. Not those who measure up, who meet some impressive standard, but those who know they don’t.

That sound like good news? That is good news! Last week we talked about how this whole block of teaching is like Jesus’ blueprint for his Kingdom of transformed hearts. Well, “good on ‘ya” to all these groups - they’re blessed - why? because this kingdom - this good, beautiful, wonderful, perfect Kingdom where things are finally right - the Kingdom Jesus is beginning to establish through his disciples - this Kingdom is open to them all. Not just VIPs.

This broken world filled with nobodies, hurting, and empty - it’s going to be turned upside down.

Sounds great - but that leads right into my next question:

How is this going to happen?

Now this is where, if you can remember how we started, this idea of a turning point, a hinge at verse 6 becomes important. Do you remember we talked about structure in these beatitudes, and how the fourth one standards out - visually, it’s simply longer. But also it ends the first group - we get a different kind of beatitude, where the promise relates differently to who’s blessed after this. It’s even the middle of seven in some counts - and seven’s a great biblical number!

Matthew 5:6 NIV

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“hunger and thirst for righteousness” - what does that mean? Well, hunger and thirst are about things we want, maybe even long for - that sense is definitely there; I feel hungry when I see a cake in the kitchen. Very Pavlovian. But hunger and thirst are more than just wants, just desires; hunger and thirst are needs. essentials. Food and water quickly become matters of life and death in a desert. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is wanting it, longing for it. But it’s also acknowledging we need it. That is is a must-have, an absolute essential.

And what’s righteousness here? What does it mean to want, to need, righteousness?

On the one hand, you could picture this as something external: putting right all the things that are wrong in the world; bringing justice. Sorting this whole mess out. We could talk about shalom: Peace in it’s full biblical richness - not just the negative, the absence of war, but the positive: rightness; goodness; everything as it should be.

Do you want that? need that, even? Good on ‘ya - because you will be satisfied. God is going to turn this broken world upside down. But that’s not all that’s meant here - see in verse 10 we learn people will be persecuted “because of righteousness”. How could anyone be persecuted because of that external sort of right-ness, a world as it should be?

So there’s another way we have to read this word too: it has an internal, personal sense. This might get you thinking about righteousness as being made right with God - that gift we are given through faith in Jesus Christ - justification would be the bible word for that. But again, v10 tells us people will be persecuted “because of righteousness” - how could that invisible change in our relationship with God, that reconciliation with him, lead to persecution?

I think this shows us righteousness here, at least in part, has to be about our conduct, about what we do. Persecuted for what you do? Because because you bow the knee to God not to the powers of this world? We know that’s a reality in our world - a deadly reality in places.

Who’s blessed? those who long for this - those who need this - those who know they will die without it. And why are they blessed? Because they will be filled with it; their longing, their need will be fully satisfied. Not just a snack, just a sip. But absolutely satisfied. Stuffed full.

This, I think, is the heart of the beatitudes, the key, the turning point: how is all this going to happen? What will turn this broken world upside down? Righteousness. Internal, personal righteousness. Righteousness in heart and action which unavoidably flows out into external, social, global righteousness.

And get this - this is super-important: “they will be filled” - not “they will fill themselves.” This is not Jesus saying sort yourself out, pull up your bootstraps, try harder you losers. You want to fix the world? Start with “the man in the mirror”. This isn’t self-help, positive self-talk, a motivational text book.

This is for people flat on the floor, totally failing, passive and hopeless - but desperately hungry and thirsty. Good on ‘ya - “they will be filled.” It’s God who does the filling not us. God’s the source of this longed for righteousness. Remember Jesus’ blueprint for his kingdom of transformed hearts? Well this is the transformed heart bit - being filled with righteousness rests on the transformation of our heart. And it’s not something we could ever work up ourselves. Instead “they will be filled.” It comes from outside. And it comes signed, sealed, delivered.

This is why this fourth beatitude is the turning point, the hinge; this is where the beatitudes move from talking about states we are in to things which we do - where God changes our hearts, satisfying that hunger for righteousness.

Finally - yep, we’re nearly at the end of our journey together - but before we’re done, we have the question we like to ask every week at Hope City:

So what?

why does Jesus bother telling about who’s blessed? about what’s coming? What’s he trying to do in his introductory chat here?

I think this is the foundation for the whole sermon, his whole blueprint: Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by giving us reason to hope in the midst of our broken world: there’s hope because he’s going to turn this world upside down. And I think Jesus tells us how he going to do that: by turning us upside down - turning our hearts upside down.

So what does this mean for you and me?

Perhaps you’re poor - perhaps you’re poor in spirit - if you know you bring nothing to the table, if you know you’re dependent, this is an invitation for you to dare to hope things might change. This is Jesus’ announcement that you could be part of it.

Perhaps you’re mourning - perhaps you’re hurting; if you feel the brokenness of this world, if you’ve experienced it yourself, if know you are damaged, broken, this is an invitation for you to dare to hope things might change. This is Jesus’ announcement that you could be part of it.

Perhaps you’re meek - perhaps you’re nobody, a nothing, powerless, insignificant; this is an invitation for you to dare to hope things might change. This is Jesus’ announcement that you could be part of it.

But the key to all of this is righteousness. This is the most important thing for us all here today. Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness - yes, out there in the world, but more importantly here in your heart? Do you long for it? Do you need it? … Will you die without it?

Let me be honest: I don’t know if I’ve ever felt a desperation for this, felt like I’m finished without it. I think we’re going to find again and again as we work through Jesus’ teaching that we’re on a journey here, not just flipping a switch. There’s a critical starting step, but that’s just the beginning of the journey. lots of this is progressive, iterative. What I want for us all as we work through this is to go a little further, a little harder, a little deeper in than we’ve ever been before.

But if you’ve never felt that hunger at all, I invite you to ask God for it right now. And if you’ve only ever had a mild rumble of the stomach, as it were, I want to invite you to ask God for more.

And as we hunger, as we thirst, just a bit, perhaps a lot, know this: we can be filled; that longing can be satisfied. Jesus is ready to do business on you, on your heart, right now - you need only ask. That is the only path ahead, the only way it actually could come to pass.

Hope City, there’s a reason for hope: Jesus has started the revolution, Jesus has laid the foundation for his Kingdom of transformed hearts. And he invites us to be a part of it.