Beatitudes Part 2

As has already been stated multiple times, our theme for this week is Kingdom Living. Jesus favorite topic in the Gospels is the Kingdom.

Now when you hear the word kingdom what do you think about?

This was the same idea that Jesus disciples would have had. And so in order to introduce the importance of his Kingdom he first had to change their way of thinking about a kingdom. Not only did he need to change their understanding about what his kingdom was all about but also he had to change their understanding about who would be invited to be a member of his kingdom. Jesus did that in the introduction to his sermon on the Mount. We call his introduction the Beatitudes. The word beatitude simply means supreme blessedness or happiness.

So the beatitudes are the list of blessings that Jesus uses to change their way of thinking. Specifically their thinking about who was invited to be a member of his kingdom.

Jesus by starting his sermon with this list of blessings turns the idea of what it means to be blessed on its head.

Put on Slide “The beatitudes are an upside down way of thinking. (CM)

Jesus audience would have thought that the people who desverved to be in the Kingdom would have been the rich, the upper class, the ruling power.

They would have thought that in order to be a citizen in the Kingdom that you had to be an expert at following all the rules.

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Although Jesus does ask us to follow certain rules he needed his disciples to understand that he was not calling the rich and famous, the upper class or the experts in the law.

Rather he needed them to understand that he was calling them. The not so rich and famous.

Have you ever felt like you weren’t good enough? Have you ever felt like you weren’t good enough to fit in with the popular kids. Or have you ever been one of the kids chosen last for a game.

Most of us in here know how that feels. You see Jesus turns the idea about being a member of his Kingdom on its head because while the world thinks that in order to be a member of a great club you must furst be popular or rich or famous Jesus says that the opposite is true about being a member of His kingdom. the Greatest Kingdom ever established.

Wes McAdams said that the beatitudes are like an announcement for the losers of society. It is an invitation for the losers of society to become members of the greatest Kingdom ever established.

This makes since when you think about the people that Jesus was talking to on this occasion.

To society Jesus disciples were the losers becasue they had no rights, their nation was being ruled by someone else, and if the Romans wanted to get rid of them they could with no consequences. They were also made to think that they couldn’t be good enough. The Pharisees made them think that it was almost impossible to follow God as well as they did.

But Jesus didn’t begin his sermon simply to tell these people that they were a bunch of losers rather he provides them with the beatitudes. Essentially the beatitudes are a winning formula for the losers of society.

He is telling his audience that it is not the rich and famous who are blessed but rather they are the blessed ones. You are the blessed ones.

So Jesus in this introduction lays out the winning formula for what it take to be a citizen in His kingdom. Yesterday we saw that one must be poor and spirit and you must be one that morns.

Building upon the first two Jesus then says, Blessed are the meek. Or blessed are the gentle.

Jesus seems to be quoting from Psalm 37:10-11

Psalm 37:10–11 ESV

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.

The word used for meek in Psalm 37 can be translated as meek but also as afflicted, or poor.

The Psalmist is saying even though you are trampled on and afflicted now one day it will not be like this. One day you will be blessed. One day you will inherit the land.

It is the same thing that Jesus is saying here in the Beatitudes.

For us today he would say even though it may seem hard at times to be my follower because people make fun of you or mistreat you, know that you have the upper hand. You are going to inherit the earth. When the Lord comes back you are going to be the one who inherits his blessings, not the people who mistreat you.

This may seem like a silly comparison but take the one physical thing that you desire the most in your life. What is it? For some it may be a gaming system, a car, or maybe you have already made up your mind that you want to be wealthy when you get older.

For people who do not just have everything handed to them they have to put in a lot of work, and sacrifice in order to get what they want.

Its crazy the hoops that we will go through and the work that we will put in for something that will not last but yet when Jesus comes along and says hey if you want to be blessed for all eternity, if you want to inherit my creation than I simply need you to be gentle in spirit.

Jesus is saying to his disciples, I know that it doesn't feel like you have the blessed life now but one day you will have what everyone else wishes that they had.

If we are willing to put in the work and the sacrifice for earthly things that we desire how much more should we put in the work to receive an eternal blessing.

Now to fully understand what Jesus is asking of us I think just like Jesus turned the idea of what it means to be blessed on its head I think in order to understand what it means to be meek we too must turn it on its head.

The world sees meekness as weakness. But that is the exact opposite of meekness in the Bible.

For example take Moses. Moses in Numbers 12:3-5 is said to be the meekest person in the world.

Numbers 12:3–5 ESV

Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.

Moses was the leader of God’s people. Nobody would ever accuse Moses of being week. So if meekness is not weakness than what is it?

A better way to understand what meekness is, is to think of it as strength under control.

I like the way Chris McCurley illustrates this point. He says imagine a bucking bronco.

The purpose of the bronco is to use its strength by turning and kicking to get the cowboy that is on its back off.

Chris says that we are kind of like that bronco before we become Christians.

In order for us to be the kind of people that Jesus wants in his kingdom we have to be broken or tamed.

You see when a horse trainer breaks or tames a bucking bronco they are broken so as to harness their strength. The horse trainer does not break its strength rather the trainer breaks the horses will to be mean so that it can serve a greater purpose. All of us need to be broken of our self will so that we can serve a greater purpose.

We must allow Christ to break us and make us meek so that he can use us.

You see God cannot use us if we are unable to harness our anger.

We should be people who get angry and upset when others are being mistreated or when others are doing things that are not Christian.

But rather than blowing up at these people and being ready to fight we must be gentle with them and take them by the hand and privately not publically, but privately try to teach them the way of Christ.

Just like Christ was willing to be gentle with us we must be gentle with others.

A true christian does not blow up at people on social media or in public places in order to prove a point. Rather they are gentle with that person and take them aside privately and talk to them.

This is how someone is able strong in faith while being gentle in spirit.

Matthew 5:5 ESV

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Jesus then continues by saying that you will be blessed if you are one who hungers and thirst for righteousness.

I believe we do these beatitudes a disservice by breaking them up as we have because they all build upon each other. Jesus is saying, those who have humbled themselves before God, those who have mourned, those who have been tamed are those who are starving for soul food, becasue they crave spiritual nourishment.

Those who are blessed are those who are starving for what pleases God.

For those that don’t know me you should know that I love to eat. I love to try new foods. I tell people all the time that I go on vacations so that I can eat good food. I will go way out of my way in order to satisfy my hunger for good food. I often times crave some good seafood or cajun food. Many of you are probably wishing that I would quit talking becasue you are craving some good food for lunch.

Although we may crave some good food how often do we crave and then consume the spiritual food that the Lord provides.

I’m afraid that often times we focus so much on the physical food that we neglect the spiritual.

Often times we are blessed to be fed spiritually with oportunities like this week or every Sunday and Wednesday or special times when we can go to Youth rallies or other events.

But rather than taking advantage of the spiritual food offered and consume it, we are more focused on the junk food that we are going to get at the gas station or fast food restaurant.

To often we are more concerned about filling ourselves with meaningless food on YouTube or social media. We crave and thus spend all our time consuming garbage and thus we fail to take advantage of the spiritual nourishment that is being offered.

I love how Chris McCurley explains what it looks like to consume spiritual food.

He says that when you go to a restaurant they give you a Menu. But not only do they give you a menu but they give you a proclaimer of the menu in the form of a waiter or waitress.

There job is to not only give you the menu but they then are there to explain to you the menu but they also offer a Q & A session where they ask you if you have any questions about the menu.

He says if we treated are restaurant experience like we often do when we are given the chance to be fed spiritually at this point after having the menu explained to us we would at this point get up and walk out.

Of course we do not do that. We don’t go to a restaurant to have someone give us a menu and then talk about it the menu. You see we will not be satisfied until we eat from the menu.

You see often times we are given a menu also known as the Bible and during worship or Bible Class, or church Camp or other youth events someone like myself or your youth Minister or preacher explains the menu to you but unfortunately to many people leave these gatherings without ever consuming the food.

You see God does not want you to just hear the information but he wants you to taste and see that the Lord is good. He wants you to consume his word, God wants you to eat from his menu.

That’s what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness.

To hunger and thirst for righteousness means that we crave opportunities to be filled with God’s word. Just like I am willing to go out of my way to find good food if we want to be blessed we must be people who go out of our way to receive spiritual food.

So this morning if you want to be blessed you do not need to be rich and famous. You do not have to be popular you do not have to have everything figured out but you do need to understand what it means to number 1 to be gentle and number 2 you need to hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Jesus is telling his audience during this sermon and he is telling you that if you understand these the beatitudes than even though the world may think that you are the losers they are wrong becasue you are the winners and it is you who will be blessed not them.

Let’s be people who who are gentle and hunger and thirst for righteousness so that we will be blessed so that we sill be the winners.