The Beatitudes pt. 1 Matthew 5:3

Introduction

The Sermon on the Mount is a compilation of sermons that Jesus preached that will help us in our Christian life. The first section of the sermon is broken down into 8 beatitudes.

The opening word of these 8 statements is blessed, which means happy. John Phillips said this “Here then is the Lord’s recipe for a happy life, a happy death, and a happy eternity.”

Jesus’ words go against any human philosophy of happiness and the world won’t understand it. Jesus tells us that true happiness is found in these truths.

The Beatitudes are impossible for us to live out in our own flesh because Jesus is the only one who can give us the grace needed to live the life described in them.

Blessed are the poor in Spirit vs. 3a

The first characteristic of happiness is genuine humility.

We cannot have true happiness if we are living a life of self pleasure. In a world where it is all about me Jesus tells his disciples and the multitudes listening, its not all about you.

The word poor doesn’t mean that you have anything, what it does mean is you have come to the end of yourself and see your need for a saviour.

One commentator put it like this “The first demand is for genuine humility, for the sense of utter spiritual destitution that is awakened by the Holy Spirit when a person sees his nothingness before God”

Think about Moses and when God used him to get the Israelites out of Egypt.

When Moses was a young man, he thought he could deliver Israel from Egypt and ended up killing an Egyptian and went on the run for 40 years. While on the run he encountered a burning bush, where he realized he was nothing.

Exodus 3:11 “11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

Isaiah’s Humility

Isaiah 6:5 “5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

When is the last time we looked at ourselves this way?

Every day we must realize that without God we are nothing. We are wicked without him.

Peter’s humility

Luke 5:8 “8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

Paul’s humility

1 Timothy 1:15 “15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

What does poor in Spirit mean?

John Gill said it this way “All mankind are spiritually poor; they have nothing to eat that is fit and proper; nor any clothes to wear, but rags; nor are they able to purchase either; they have no money to buy it with; they are in debt, owe ten thousand talents, and have nothing to pay; and in such a condition they are unable to help themselves.”

I think to the Laodicean church in Revelations, where they thought they were rich but they were spiritually poor.

Revelation 3:17 “17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”

The poor is spirit are those who consciously depend on God, not on themselves; They are “poor” inwardly, having no ability in themselves to please God.

Romans 3:9–12 “9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven vs. 3b

To inherit the kingdom of heaven you must first have trusted Christ as your Saviour.

To get saved you must realize your need for a Saviour and humbly trust that Jesus died for your sins, was buried and rose again. That is the only way to heaven.

You cannot know you need to be saved until you realize you are lost.

Imagine you are out hiking somewhere and instead of following the trail, you decide to go explore off the trail. Everything is going good, until you realize its getting dark and you need to get back to the trail so you can go home. So you turn around and start heading back to where you think the trail is, but you keep walking and it keeps getting darker and you realize that you are lost. Up to this point everything was great, because you didn’t know you were lost, but now that you realize your lost, you must cry out to be saved.

This is the Christian life, we are walking life’s path and everything is great and then we hear the gospel realize we are lost and cry out to God to save us.

Why would Jesus preach the kingdom of heaven and humility in the first part of His sermon?

I believe it was for the audience he was reaching. For so long they had seen the Pharisees, thinking of themselves as righteous, condemning anyone who didn’t reach their standard of religious living. The problem with their standard was that the goal was to be better than a person, rather than to be Christlike.

The Pharisees would fast and make sure everyone would know about it, they would pray loud and eloquent prayers to make themselves look religious when in reality without a Saviour that fasting and praying meant nothing.

If Heaven was all about our merits and our money it would be full of self righteous people, but Salvation is by grace through faith.

Ephesians 2:8–9 “8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Phillips said this “If believers did not have such changed natures, the malignant evils of the present social order would simply be reproduced in God’s kingdom”

Conclusion

In a society that tells us just do whatever makes you happy, Jesus preached quite the opposite. He told us our happiness isn’t found in this world, but found in heaven. Our utter destitution brings us to the place where we realize we need a saviour. We find happiness in him!