The Beatitudes

a. A Compassionate Savior (5:1-2)

b. His Compassionate Truth (5:3)

Matthew 5:1-3

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. A Compassionate Savior (5:1-2)

i. Today we start chapter 5 and it tells us here in verse 1 that Jesus saw the crowds. Remember the context from the end of 4:23-25, Jesus was going all through Galilee teaching people and preaching the Gospel and healing every kind of disease (4:23). As He was doing this, news spread about Him all throughout Syria and people were bringing their loved ones to Jesus and Jesus was healing them. He was healing all kinds of diseases. They brought to Him all who were ill. Jesus didn’t pick and choose who He wanted to heal or who He could heal. But rather, He healed everyone that was brought to Him.

ii. Verse 25 tells us large crowds followed Him and 5:1 begins by telling us, as these crowds were gathering, and Jesus saw these crowds, He went up on the mountain. The area where Jesus was speaking here was most likely the west and north of the Lake of Galilee as that area was hill country.

iii. So as He was up on the mountain, He sat down and His disciples came to Him. There is a nice symmetrical story happening here between Moses and Jesus. We see Jesus going over the law in 5:21-5:48. Jesus says You have heard that the ancients were told and He quotes the Ten Commandments. This helps us see the similarity between Jesus and Moses because Moses went up the mountain to receive God’s law. Jesus goes up the mountain, to explain God’s law.

iv. 5:17 is important for us understanding the significance of the similarity between Moses and Jesus. This is why it’s important for us to recognize what Moses’s task was in giving Israel the Law and what Jesus’s purpose in fulfilling (완전케) the law.

v. But the focus of this section is He saw the large crowd. This reminds us of Jesus before He feeds the five thousand in Mark 6:34. There it says that when He saw the large crowd, He has compassion for them because they were sheep without a shepherd and He began to teach them.

vi. If we think about the context of Matthew 4:23-25, we see a compassionate savior. It tells us that the disciples were not the only ones to hear Jesus. So did the crowds. What crowds? Those who were healed by Jesus. ‘And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them …’. Before the crowds hear the Messiah’s word they are the object of his compassion and healing. Having done nothing, nothing at all, they are benefited. So grace comes before task, succour before demand, healing before imperative. The first act of the Messiah is not the imposition of his commandments but the giving of himself.

vii. So what am I trying to accomplish with this message? The Beatitudes teach us what it means to be blessed. Through the Beatitudes, it tells us that a person who is blessed is a person who sees God, knows God, and is in the family of God not by merit, but by grace. The Beatitudes remind us of our bankruptcy (파산) and that it is impossible to see God, know God and be in His family apart from Him doing these things on our behalf. But most importantly, it tells us of a God who gives us mercy when we didn’t deserve it. It tells us of a Gospel that has been accomplished on our behalf despite our unfaithfulness.

b. His Compassionate Truth (5:3)

i. Jesus starts the sermon by telling us who is blessed. What kind of person is blessed? In our society, what do we think is a blessed person? When we see someone and we say, wow that person is blessed, what do we think about that person? We would say that a person who is blessed is a person who has money, wealth, education, power, health, even a wonderful family.

ii. In our Bible background, we know that people who want these things are worldly and because it’s worldly, it’s bad. So when I was a young Chrisitan, I used to think that having wealth was bad. It didn’t mean the person wasn’t a believer, but they probably weren’t godly and they didn’t know their bibles. I mean, if you loved the Bible, and you lived according to the word, then you can’t make money because you have to tell the truth. We almost have this idea that money is bad and worldly and we have to run away from wealth. Afterall, Jesus says in Matthew 6:24, that you can’t serve 2 masters. You can’t love both God and money. So what do people think? Well I love God therefore I have to hate money. What does this mean? I have to live poor for God. So the sign of godliness is to live poor.

iii. We might think this type of mentality is wrong but many people think this because of this verse 5:3. They say Jesus is teaching us to be poor. We have to be poor in Spirit, so poor that we don’t look to the things of this world, because we have the Kingdom of Heaven. They believe that if we live poor here, we will have our best life in the next life so it’s a sign of godliness to be poor.

iv. But is that what Jesus is really teaching? I would argue no. But one thing we should consider is, what does it mean to be blessed? Again, when we think of a blessed person, do we really think, wow that person is so poor, that they are blessed? No. If you do, let me ask you a more personal question. You don’t think to yourself that I want my kids to be poor because that’s what it means to be blessed. No. As Koreans, we look at being wealthy and having a good education, good job as someone who is blessed. Why? Because we believe this idea that being blessed means somewhat to be rich.

v. I am not saying that a person who has these things isn’t blessed. Rather, I want to show that the Bible teaches otherwise. The Bible is not teaching that a blessed person is a rich or poor person. No. The Bible is teaching us that a rich person or a poor person can both be outside of the kingdom of God. It is a ridiculous idea to think that rich people will be in Heaven because they are rich. The same token is to think that a poor person will be in Heaven because they are poor. When we think about it this way, we say this is not true. But when we think someone is blessed, we think wow that person is blessed because they are rich. Or wow, that person is not blessed because they are poor. We think that about ourselves sometimes.

vi. So what is the Bible actually saying here? The Bible is telling us about our heart. A person who is poor in Spirit is the person who will receive the kingdom of God. What’s beautiful here is this idea of being poor in Spirit. These 3 words have to be understood together. Poor here is referring to someone who is dependent on another person.

1. Look at the context. Matthew 4:23-25 many people came to Jesus because they were sick. Borrowing the story of Mark 5:21-34, the woman who was bleeding did everything she could to try to heal herself. She used all her money and her savings to try to get healed, but she failed. But when she heard about Jesus, she said to herself, if I just touch His cloak, I will be healed. At this point, she was poor because she had no more money. She had no more options. But not only was she actually poor, she said to herself, He is my only hope. I can’t do this myself. I’ve done everything that I could. My only hope is to touch this guy’s cloak.

2. This story captures perfectly poor in spirit. It is a person as these people were, people who were poor and have dealt with this pain all their lives. They probably did everything they could to get healed, but had no other options. Then the news spread about Him and heard He was healing people so they traveled far to go to Him and when they came to Him, He healed them.

vii. So when Jesus says blessed are poor in spirit, it means they must realize they can’t do it themselves, because they have exhausted all their options. They are at a place now where they realize, I can’t do this myself. They are totally bankrupt. They need someone to help them. Only when we are completely vulnerable and realize our bankruptcy, only then, will they receive the kingdom of Heaven.

viii. This is not the good news because nobody wants to be in this position in life. Nobody wants to have no options. What do we want? We want to be able to control our situations. This is why it’s so hard for us to actually receive help from others. What would we like? We would like to make a lot of money more so that we can help others before we want to admit, I want to be poor so I can receive help from others. Why? Because we have pride. But what God is telling us is, the person who is poor in spirit is the person who is not prideful. No, it is the person who is broken and trusting in only God. It is the person who is willing to travel a far distance hoping and trusting that God can heal them of their injuries and coming to Him for healing.

ix. But it doesn’t end there. Verse 3 tells us that the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Only those who are poor in spirit, those who are fully dependent on God and not on their own status of ability, these people are the people who will inherit the kingdom of Heaven. All of these beatitudes tell us one thing. God is the one who shall give the kingdom of Heaven, He shall be the one who comforts, He shall give the earth, He will satisfy them.

x. The greatest part of the Beatitudes is the reality that God Himself will be our reward. So many people think receiving the gifts of God is receiving God. But what the Beatitudes teach us is, those people who are poor and dependent on God, those who are seeking God, those people will receive God. This is the blessed man. Being blessed is not being rich or poor. It’s really about knowing God and being known by Him.

3. CONCLUSION