#Blessed

Crisis:

Illustration: Have you guys ever stopped to think about the world we live in? Or just checked social media recently? Have you noticed how much everyone is trying to impress someone else? Do you see how much energy we are spending trying to paint a good picture? Anyone following any TikTok content that’s just all about being miserable and sad and poor and depressed? Anybody see a lot of really honest people on their Snap stories? No, probably not. We see everyone with their best foot forward. And isn’t it kind of exhausting?

Our world today is full of people telling you to look good on the outside so you can feel good on the inside. Content creators are obsessed with convincing you that they’ve got life all figured out so that you’ll follow them.

Our world is obsessed with status and power.

And so was the world that Jesus lived in.

Jesus was surrounded by a religious community obsessed with looking good and performing. That’s not to mention the larger Roman culture’s obsession with power and status during Jesus’s day.

Jesus’s call was radically different. Today, we’re starting a series in the Sermon on the Mount and before we get into the content of the Sermon tonight, I want to take a second to get you into the head space of Jesus’s world. So, if you would, go with me in your Bibles to Matthew 4:23 and then we’ll pray before we get started. [PRAY]

Climax:

The Sermon on the Mount starts in Matthew chapter 5 and continues all the way through chapter 7. But for the sake of context, let’s start at the end of Matthew 4:

“And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. His fame spread throughout all Syria…25And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan,” (Mt 4:23).

- This verse gives us 2 very important pieces of context: 1) content and 2) audience

As for content, Matthew says that Jesus talked about the gospel of the kingdom. The “kingdom” is really important to Matthew. He uses this word more than 50 times!

This summary statement is really important for us because as a Rabbi, Jesus would have gone from town to town teaching a message. So, what was the content of Jesus’s message? Jesus taught about the kingdom of heaven.

That naturally begs the question, what is the kingdom of heaven?

The kingdom of heaven means God’s rule over God’s people in God’s place.

So, as we read the Sermon on the Mount tonight and over the next few weeks, think of it as Jesus telling people about how God is going to rule over his people and how those people ought to live in his world.

Now that we have taken time to notice the content we’re about to read, I want to talk about the audience briefly before we dive in.

Notice in Matthew chapter 4 who is listening to Jesus:

People from Galilee, the Decapolis (10 cities around the Sea of Galilee, largely Greek speaking/Romans/Gentiles), Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan (outside of the Promised Land).

In short, Matthew is telling us that this message was attracting people from everywhere.

So, with that context in mind, let’s dive into the words of Jesus in Matthew 5…

““Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught 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 meek, 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 are persecuted for righteousness’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 5:2-11).

Jesus’s view of life is radically different than yours.

This opening section of the Sermon on the Mount is famously referred to as “The Beatitudes.” In fact, many of you will notice this heading right before verse 2 in your Bibles. The word “Beatitude” means supremely blessed.

The amount of times Jesus uses the word “blessed” reminds me of the days when #blessed was such a huge thing and everyone on Instagram was posting a picture of their selfie with a venti Starbucks on the beach somewhere with the caption “#blessed”. Can you look back through this list and tell me where anyone living this way is #blessed?

Poor, mourning, meek, hungry, thirsty, persecuted.

I guess it’s #blessed to be merciful and peaceful and pure. But come on, those other ones?

Jesus says that anyone & everyone is ready to be invited into the kingdom of heaven.

Application: Ask yourself: who have you been disqualifying from following Jesus because you didn’t think they were cut out for it? Jesus surrounded himself with ex-thieves, ex-prostitutes, ex-murderers, ex-political rebels, and smelly, uneducated fishermen. He said they were all welcome to learn his way of life.

What did they all have in common that made them fit for a #blessedlife?

They were humble enough to come to the end of themselves for the sake of Jesus.

Jesus says the key to being #blessed is inside out and upside down.

When we say, “inside out,” we’re talking about how Jesus’s words in the Sermon on the Mount are always focused on the heart—on what’s inside.

As we said earlier, many of the people in Jesus’s world and most of the people in ours are concerned with what’s outside. Jesus is different. He believes that true blessedness comes from a heart that is right with God.

Check out the actual phrases in the Beatitudes:

“Poor in spirit,” (v.3).

This isn’t about being literally financially poor, it’s about having a poor or lowly spirit—it’s about humility.

Would the people closest to you describe you as humble? Would the people following you on social media describe you as humble?

“the meek,” (v. 5).

Meekness is displayed when someone has power but chooses to show restraint. This requires gentleness & self-control.

Do you try to gain power over others in your life or do you regularly demonstrate meekness like Jesus?

“the pure in heart,” (v. 8).

This one is HUGE and will come up again in a big way in the SotM. It’s one thing to appear pure on the outside. Jesus isn’t impressed by that. He desires followers who are pure on the inside.

Are you trying to look pure on the outside while covering up hidden sin that’s eating at you from the inside?

- But not only is Jesus’s invitation here inside out, it’s also upside down.

“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” (Matthew 4:17).

Whenever Jesus preached the message of the kingdom of heaven, he always invited people to repent. To “turn.” Turn away from your way of viewing the world, turn away from your system of measuring success. Turn away from your obsession with status and power and living for yourself.

We said earlier that Jesus is saying that anyone and everyone is welcome in the kingdom of heaven. And this is true!

But in order for us to actually enter this kingdom, we must hear his call to humble ourselves and repent.

Ultimately, what these “Beatitudes” are showing us is that, for Jesus, the #blessedlife means turning your world upside down. The repentance has to be so sharp of a turn that it literally flips your world and your life upside down.

And when it happens, you realize that you’re finally seeing the world the way it was supposed to be seen. You realize that actually, you’ve been the one who was upside down.

You see, here’s the twist in Jesus’s message of the kingdom:

Conclusion:

The Beatitudes are a call for us to repent of our current way of viewing the world and come to Jesus for a new way to live.

[CALL THE BAND UP]

The Sermon on the Mount is not a self-help book. You can’t help yourself. You can’t do it on your own. This isn’t a checklist like if you suddenly one day learn how to become all of these things, then you’ll be good enough for Jesus.

No, instead, see these famous “Beatitudes” as a plea from Jesus to his audience—both the crowd and the disciples—saying “you can’t do this on your own. You must depend on me and My Father to do this in you.”

Like any great introduction, Jesus begins his sermon with a radical way of looking at the world that begins to flip our perspective upside down.

His invitation to you is simple: will you listen to what he has to say and live this kind of life? Will you repent when necessary? And will you come to the end of yourself and realize that the only true entry requirement into the kingdom is humility and dependence on Jesus?