Voyager Devo: Sermon on the Mount (Part 2)
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Introduction:
Talk about the game here
Last week, we started talking about the Sermon on the Mount and this idea that Jesus presents that the Kingdom of God is upside down
He takes things, and flips them on their heads
Eric took is through the verse two verses last time
Let’s look at those really quick:
Matthew 5:2–3 (ESV)
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This is the beginning of the best sermon ever preached
And this opening part is what we call the beatitudes, where Jesus says “blessed are...” about several things
And he says them about things you wouldn’t expected
“blessed are the poor in spirit” … well, how does that work?
It works because the kingdom of God is upside down
Now, we are going to look at the next verse
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Q. What does it mean to mourn?
Usually, mourning is when you feel sad about someone dying
We all have probably mourned over pets, and maybe even family members
But we mourn over other things, too
When something like that happens… it doesn’t exactly feel like you are blessed, does it?
In fact, it is in moments like that where we often question God the most
We ask, “how could God have allowed something like this to happen?”
And oftentimes, we won’t know the answer to questions like that until we get to heaven
But you know what we can know? That we are blessed
How are we blessed? Because Jesus flips things upside down
He blesses us even though we are sad
And how does he do that? By comforting us
Q. What does it mean to be comforted?
When someone helps you feel better
So, Jesus takes our mourning and flips it upside down by making us feel better
Jesus goes through life with us; we are not alone!
Q. What are some of the ways that Jesus comforts us?
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Now here’s an interesting one
Q. What does it mean to be meek?
To be humble
Q. What does it mean to be humble?
To not brag about yourself too much
We tend to think that, in order to succeed, we have to make ourselves sound better than everybody else
I am sure that we have all seen other people do this, and we have probably even done it ourselves once or twice
Q. But is it a good idea to brag like that? Why not?
It seems like the way to succeed to is brag on yourself, but Jesus takes that and turns it upside down
You want the world? You have to be humble
Q. What are some ways that you can be humble?
Not bragging too much, encouraging other people, etc.
Let Jesus turn your world upside down; be humble!
Now, let’s look at what the next verse says:
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
I bet that most of y’all ate something for breakfast before you came here
And you probably had something to drink with it, too!
Raise your hand if your go-to breakfast is cereal
Me too! It doesn’t matter how much older I get; cereal is still my favorite way to get the day started
Raise your hand if you like to drink OJ in the morning
I also really like OJ! But you know what I like even better than OJ? Coffee!!
And I’m one of those people who drink it black, too.... yeah, I know
Why do I say all of that?
Because this verse talks about being hungry and thirsty!
You know, being really hungry and really thirsty is a really weird spot to be in
There isn’t a worse spot to be in than when you would do anything for some fries, you know what I mean?
It doesn’t exactly feel good to be hungry and thirsty
But Jesus flips that upside down, too!
Being hungry and thirsty are good; it’s just important to be hungry and thirsty for the right things
And what does this verse say to be hungry and thirsty for? Righteousness
Q. What is righteousness?
We think of righteousness in terms of “doing the right thing,” and that’s part of it, but it is more than that
It is not just “doing” the right thing, but “being” right
Jesus is righteous
He never sinned
He is perfect!