Beatitudes for kingdom living
Deer Creek-Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 18 viewsAim: To start to look at the Beatitudes for kingdom living
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Jesus seeing the crowd
Jesus goes on the mountain
Jesus sits
Jesus disciples came to Him
Jesus opened His mouth
Jesus was not an isolationist. He was one who looked at the masses, had compassion on them and wanted to teach them about the kingdom of God.
He did not want to give them unbearable instructions but tools for kingdom living. Tools are great, but they are no of any working value if they sit in the tool box right?
Jesus wanted them to know what qualities they should have (tools) as a kingdom dweller, and we get to the beatitudes for kingdom living. They are not something to live up to, they are something to understand and as you do these qualities will become apparent in you.
Jesus wants his disciples to be blessed (some versions say happy and they are synonomous). He gives the teaching on how to know, enjoy the blessings that kingdom living offers.
This is not about perfection it is about direction.
I’m not sure how far we will get today, God knows so here we go.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
Q: What do you notice about this passage? Do you notice any progression of it, do you think there is any?
Q: We know key word(s) in the passage is blessed or happy, what does that mean?
Blessed: which in some sense means “happy” as seen in 1Tim1:11
11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
Are we not happy because of the glorious gospel?
The Greek word is “Makarios” that describes that joy which has its secret within itself, joy which is serene and untouchable, and is self-contained, that joy which is completely independent of all chances and changes of life. - - -this is as Barclay says in his commentary.
Jesus one day will return and call the blessed home. what a great day that will be.
One of the requirements to enter into the heavenly kingdom is to be a blessed one.
Mt25:34 “34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
Well think about this, ponder this and know that no one has blessed us more than Jesus Christ and He has blessed us with every spiritual thing in the heavenly places (see Eph1:3)
Q: Are you blessed, do you know you are blessed, and if so, how do you know?
Spurgeon once said “Note, also, with delight, that the blessing is in every case in present tense, a happiness to be now enjoyed and delighted in. It is not blessed shall be, but blessed are.”
Now that leads us to (v.3)- can someone read it?
Mt5:3 “3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Q: Who is blessed and what are the results of the blessing?
Q: what do you believe poor in spirit means?
I can tell you what it is not, it is not the thought, feeling, assumption that your life is of no value, that by nature is insignificant. That would be untrue.
What it is an awareness of our sinful, rebellious nature that is without moral virtues adequate to commend him to God. Meaning to appease God and grant us entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
The poor in spirit are deficient of spiritual “assets”. They are spiritually bankrupt. They are truly spiritually poor.
Spurgeon said “Poverty of spirit cannot be artificially induced by self-hatred; the Holy Spirit and our response to His working in our hearts bring it about.”
Q: Why do you think that this is the first beatitude?
We need to start with God and come to God in a broken, poor in spirit way, knowing we are spiritually deficient and are in need of Him to receive the kingdom of heaven.
This is our first step, close to the ground of it were a ladder. We cannot be pure in heart (v.8) unless we know we are poor in spirit, along with some other things, other rungs on the ladder.
Again Spurgeon said: “Everyone can start here; it isn’t first blessed are the pure or holy or the spiritual or the wonderful. Everyone can be poor in spirit, ‘Not what I have, but what I have not, is the first point of contract between my soul and God.”
Our spiritual resources are of no avail, we need our poor in spirit nature to rely on God and His grace and merciful nature to give us the kingdom of heaven through the Son.
Carson said “The kingdom of heaven is not given on the basis of race, earned merits, the military zeal and prowess of Zealots, or the wealth of a Zacchaeus. It is given to the poor, the despised publicans, the prostitutes, those who are so ‘poor’ they know they can offer nothing and do not try. They cry for mercy and they alone are heard.”
I’m not in a hurry, a rush to get through all of these. Gaining a greater understanding of each one helps us to grow in and through each one. So, having said that here is another quote.
Spurgeon: “the poor in spirit are lifted from the dunghill, and set, not among the hired servants in the field, but among prices in the kingdom…Poor in spirit; the words sound as if they described the owners of nothing, and yet they describe the inheritors of all things. Happy poverty! Millionaires sink into insignificance, the treasure of the Indies evaporate into smoke, while to the poor in spirit remains a boundless, endless, faultless kingdom, which renders them blessed in the esteem of Him who is God over all, blessed for ever.”
We cannot be filled with our assumed strength, only be an awareness of our brokenness and 100% reliance on God’s power.
Another thing to keep in perspective, this time from Guzik:
“No one mourns until they are poor in spirit; no one is meek towards others until he has a humble view of himself. If you don’t sense your own need and poverty, you will never hunger and thirst after righteousness; and if you have too high a view of yourself, you will find it difficult to be merciful to others.”
Whew, all that on the pour in Spirit. From knowing our poverty because of our sin, that leads to our next one.
4 Happy are those who mourn; God will comfort them!
The godly reaction to the awareness and acceptance of our brokenness is mourning.
the Greek word here used is as an intense degree of mourning. This is not a flippant thing but a grievous thing. A grievous state before God because of our broken sinful state and inability to be reconciled on our own, by our own power, but in need of God’s.
Barclay says: “The Greek word for to mourn, used here, is the strongest word for mourning in the Greek language. It is the word which is used for mourning for the dead, for the passionate lament for one who was loved.”
One who truly mourns, mourns over their broken state and also the fallen state of others. You mourn after sin and its effects.
Consider what this mourning leads to
10 For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.
Ah, those who mourn ARE comforted, it is not a maybe, it is surety.
“God allows this grief into our lives as a path, not as a destination.” - Enduring word commentary.
When the broken who are able to and are mourning, well they can know something special about God
The fellowship of His suffering
Php3:10 “10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;” a closeness to the Man of Sorrows
Isa53:3 “3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
Q: What have you seen, what have you learned in the first two beatitudes?
Q: does this give you a feeling of shame, guilt, remorse or hope?
Q: Jesus promised comfort, why is comfort needed, and how do we get it?
I was going to try to do more today, but I believe it is better that we stop there today. There is so much in these and we need to ponder these and not rush onto the others.
(Prayer)
