Inward Beatitudes

Last Week:

We looked at an introduction to the Sermon on the Mount

We saw the importance of this sermon

That we can seriously sit under Jesus and learn from him

That the sermon is not just boxes to check to make sure we are in the kingdom

Nor is it impossibly high to attain where we simply stop trying and “Let God and Let Go”

Jesus is setting forth a vision of what His kingdom looks like

The values of the kingdom (what matters)

So today we move from the general to the particular

Not just vague values but what specifically is the heart of God

Scripture Reading:

Matthew 5:1–5 CSB

When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.

Introduction to the Beatitudes

The beatitudes are characteristics of the Kingdom of God

They are what are valued in the God’s Kingdom

“Blessed” - “How Happy” - “Makarios”

The Good Life

The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary (Matthew 5:3–12: Nine Beatitudes for the New People of God (A Vision for True Human Flourishing))

“Beatitudes are description, and commendations, of the good life.” As prophet and sage, Jesus is offering and inviting his hearers into the way of being in the world that will result in their true and full flourishing now and in the age to come.

Redefining God’s People

Jesus presents not a list of heroes of the faith nor a list of moral behaviors that describe the truly pious but rather a redefinition of who the people of God are—they are ones whose lives look like this beatitudinal way of being (and like Jesus himself).

Ultimately all of these beatitudes reflect the heart of Jesus himself

People will be truly blessed not just if they listen to Jesus’s teachings but live like Jesus did

You can’t have the life of Jesus without the lifestyle of Jesus

Athlete example

Joy, Peace, Love, Compassion, Care, Non-Anxious, etc.

The Entirety of the Beatitudes

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter-Culture a. The People Described

The Beatitudes set out the balanced and diverse character of Christian people. These are not eight separate and distinct groups of disciples, some of whom are meek, while others are merciful and yet others are called upon to endure persecution. They are rather eight qualities of the same group who at one and the same time are meek and merciful, poor in spirit and pure in heart, mourning and hungry, peacemakers and persecuted

Furthermore, the group exhibiting these marks is not an elite, a small spiritual aristocracy remote from ordinary Christians. On the contrary, the Beatitudes are Christ’s own specification of what every Christian ought to be. All these qualities are to characterize all his followers.

Justification and the Beatitudes

The Reformer Martin Luther is even clearer about the second purpose of the Sermon: ‘Christ is saying nothing in this Sermon about how we become Christians, but only about the works and fruit that no one can do unless he already is a Christian and in a state of grace.’

The whole Sermon in fact presupposes an acceptance of the gospel, an experience of conversion and new birth, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It describes the kind of people reborn Christians are (or should be).

A Counter-Cultural Way

Now these Beatitudes are counter-cultural

They are directly opposed to much of what our culture has to say

Against the Stream

The question is do we trust and believe Jesus?

Do we “lean not on our own understanding but in all ways acknowledge Him?”

He is saying: This is the way to live the truly good life, a life that is flourishing!

Flourishing Tree Analogy

But our world is constantly saying: That can’t be right, heres the true way to the good life

At any given time these values are at war within us

Who are we going to trust?

So enough abstract talk of ideas and values

Lets look at the first beatitude

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Now before we talk about this we need to talk about what this means: “Poor in Spirit”

Does it mean “Blessed are the poor in spirit” - financial

Does it mean “Blessed are the poor in spirit” - humility

It could mean either and often they are linked

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter-Culture 1. The Poor in Spirit (5:3)

At first to be poor meant to be in literal, material need. But gradually, because the needy had no refuge but God, ‘poverty’ came to have spiritual overtones and to be identified with humble dependence on God

But I think it has to do mostly with those with ‘low spirits’

The discouraged, the unconfident, the downcast

Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.”

With Makarios, “It is actually flourishing and good to be poor in spirit”

Our culture says, “How could that be possible?! It’s terrible to be poor in Spirit; that’s what we want to avoid!! Blessed are the rich in spirit, those who are confident in themselves!”

It says, “It is actually the best way to live (flourishing) to be full of liveliness, spirit, and confidence

We see this all over the place!

Be yourself!

Self-care/self-confidence

Follow your heart!

We at all times try to avoid being poor in spirit

We are taught that it is not a good thing; it is not a state of ‘blessing’

Why are they blessed?

The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs

This is the first beatitude and it is importantly so

There is no entry into or possession of the Kingdom of Heaven unless we are “poor in spirit”

Guys, this is the Gospel!

We have to acknowledge that we are spiritually poor, that we don’t have anything

This is a fundamental characteristic of every Christian, and the starting point/foundation for a relationship with God

God is near those who realize their poverty before him

Isaiah 57:15 (CSB)

For the High and Exalted One,

who lives forever, whose name is holy, says this:

“I live in a high and holy place,

and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit,

to revive the spirit of the lowly

and revive the heart of the oppressed.

Before we can be filled up with God his life, we must be emptied of ourselves

There has to be an emptying before there is a filling

As the opening words of Jesus’s sermon, he is making an important point:

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount Chapter Four: Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit (5:3)

The Sermon on the Mount, in other words, comes to us and says, ‘There is the mountain that you have to scale, the heights you have to climb; and the first thing you must realize, as you look at that mountain which you are told you must ascend, is that you cannot do it, that you are utterly incapable in and of yourself, and that any attempt to do it in your own strength is proof positive that you have not understood it.’ It condemns at the very outset the view which regards it as a programme for man to put into operation immediately, just as he is.

Martin Lloyd Jones puts it like this:

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount Chapter Four: Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit (5:3)

That, then, is what is meant by being ‘poor in spirit’. It means a complete absence of pride, a complete absence of self-assurance and of self-reliance. It means a consciousness that we are nothing in the presence of God. It is nothing, then, that we can produce; it is nothing that we can do in ourselves. It is just this tremendous awareness of our utter nothingness as we come face to face with God. That is to be ‘poor in spirit’.

What must we do?

We cannot being by looking at yourself or by trying to do things to youself

We must take our eyes off of ourselves

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount Chapter Four: Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit (5:3)

The way to become poor in spirit is to look at God. Read this Book about Him, read His law, look at what He expects from us, contemplate standing before Him. It is also to look at the Lord Jesus Christ and to view Him as we see Him in the Gospels.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount Chapter Four: Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit (5:3)

Look at Him; and the more we look at Him, the more hopeless shall we feel by ourselves, and in and of ourselves, and the more shall we become ‘poor in spirit’. Look at Him, keep looking at Him. Look at the saints, look at the men who have been most filled with the Spirit and used. But above all, look again at Him, and then you will have nothing to do to yourself. It will be done. You cannot truly look at Him without feeling your absolute poverty, and emptiness

Look to him:

When you’re hurt by others

When you fall short and sin

When you are downcast and discouraged

When you lack confidence to do what you need to do

When you are confused

When it feels like everyone else has abandoned you

Overconfident children

Jr High Kids

The Sermon on the Mount: (Matthew 5–7): An Expositional Commentary Confronted by God

C. S. Lewis once wrote of this experience, “Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good—above all, that we are better than someone else—I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.”

Blessed are those who mourn

Now this is one of my favorite beatitudes

It can be translated “How happy are the sad, for they will be comforted”

Now this just sounds wrong!

This is how counter-cultural Jesus’s teachings are!

“How blessed and flourishing are those who are mourning”

This goes against every fiber in our being

The world tells us “Happy are the happy!”

“It is more blessed to be happy and not mourn than it is do mourn at all!”

The world tries to avoid sadness at all costs

It is seen as the vital enemy of human flourishing

Jesus comes along and says, “It is actually more blessed, it is a marker that you are flourishing, if you are mourning”

How could this be true?

Addressing a Misconception

We tend to think that sadness is the great enemy of our soul

That to be a spiritually mature person it means never being sad

This is because of people being trite, “Trust God!”

Being sad is a normal part of being a human in a fallen world

it is not a marker of spiritual immaturity

Jesus himself, the perfect man, is identified as:

Isaiah 53:3-4

He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.

We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.

He was despised, and we did not care.

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;

it was our sorrows that weighed him down.

Feeling grief and mourning is not a sign of weakness, it is a way in which we can identify with the pains of Jesus

A word to the boys: Being a man does not mean stuffing emotions

Numbing

Why are they blessed?

Ask!

For they will be comforted

We live in a broken world

We are going to face very difficult things

If you seriously follow Jesus, life does not get easier

Life is very hard, filled with many very sad things

If we want to receive comfort, we must learn how to mourn

Mourn things in the world; Mourn our own fallen nature

Refusing Comfort

Comfort is something that has to be allowed

Physical Comfort

Visiting someone; Uncomfortable seat

Emotional/Spiritual Comfort

Times I’ve refused comfort from others

Refused comfort from God

When we mourn we are allowing ourselves to be comforted:

Psalm 34:17–18 (CSB)

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,

and rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is near the brokenhearted;

he saves those crushed in spirit.

Accepting Comfort

When we do accept comfort it is one the most amazing things

Have you ever been comforted by someone during a difficult time?

Mourning is actually a “Blessed” place to be because we are reminded of the pain and sorrows of this world, and are reminded of our glorious hope in heaven.

When we refuse to mourn we try to make this world our home and overlook the problems

To mourn is to remember that all of this is temporary

We fix our eyes on heaven and receive comfort

Revelation 21:4 CSB

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.

Blessed are the humble/meek

The final beatitude for the day:

Again: our culture tells us, “Blessed are the confident, self-assertive, the prideful for they will take the earth”

Business mentality - survival of the fittest

Fight for your rights; Express your freedoms

Jesus flips things upside down yet again when he says:

Matthew 5:5 (CSB)

Blessed are the humble,

for they will inherit the earth.

I have a question: Who owns the Earth/Who does it belong to?

Psalm 24:1–2 (CSB)

The earth and everything in it,

the world and its inhabitants,

belong to the Lord;

for he laid its foundation on the seas

and established it on the rivers.

I have a second question: Can somebody take something that belongs to God?

This is foolish

No matter how cutthroat, self-assertive, and successful you can be, you cannot take something that belongs to God

Why are they blessed?

They will inherit the earth

What does inherit mean?

It is given, not earned or taken

Matthew 23:12 CSB

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Humility

Is not thinking less of yourself, its thinking of yourself less

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount Chapter Six: Blessed Are the Meek (5:5)

Then let me go further; the man who is meek is not even sensitive about himself. He is not always watching himself and his own interests. He is not always on the defensive

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call 'humble' nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably, all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all. If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish step, too.  At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.

Look at the chain: Poor in Spirit -> Mourning -> Humility

Conclusion

This is the good news!

Remember who Jesus is talking to here:

Matthew 4:24–25 CSB

Then the news about him spread throughout Syria. So they brought to him all those who were afflicted, those suffering from various diseases and intense pains, the demon-possessed, the epileptics, and the paralytics. And he healed them. Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

Matthew 5:1–2 CSB

When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to teach them, saying:

When he opens his mouth, the first words he has to say

Are blessing over the people over the crowds

This is what it means to be blessed

The entry into the Kingdom is open!

Any can come!

The downcast, poor in spirit, the mourning!