Discipleship 6
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Jesus Teaching on the Beatitudes
Jesus Teaching on the Beatitudes
This morning we are continuing our study of Disciples and discipleship. Last week we talked about Jesus calling his disciples, how they walked with him for 3 years while he was teaching and training them to be apostles, to continue the work after he was no longer with them. Have you ever wandered what Jesus might have said to them ? What his teaching methods might have been? Matthew chapter 5 might be the best example that is recorded in the Bible. Verse 1 tells us that Jesus saw the crowds and went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them. One commentary that I read interpreted this as Jesus going on the mountainside to teach just his disciples. I see this as three different groups. first the crowd. Jesus’ teachings were different than those of the Jewish rabbis. We are told that he spoke as one with authority. People followed him so that they could hear him speak. I think that there was a large crowd present, so large that Jesus went up on the mountainside so that he could address the large group of people. Notice that he sat down, this was not a short message, but a longer, detailed teaching. Second when the text refers to his disciples, I think this refers to the larger group of disciples. There were probably men and women who followed Jesus just like his apostles who took on responsibilities of providing meals and other services. The book of Acts records that there were 500 disciples present after Jesus’ resurrection. We read last week of the 72 that he sent out to minister to the people. The were sent to heal the sick, drive out demons, and proclaim that the kingdom of God is at hand. The third group was the 12 that he called to be his apostles, the 12 Apostles who were his close companions. We read that he would meet with them privately to further explain his teachings.
Jesus’ teachings are referred to as the Beatitudes. John Stott remarked in a sermon that “they are the best known in scripture, the least understood and the least obeyed.” They are sometimes compared to the 10 Commandments. There is a difference, however the 10 Commandments are in the form of thou shalt not, don’t do this or you will face punishment. The Beatitudes are promises of blessings when you follow Jesus’ teachings. 8 things that you should do to reflect the kingdom of heaven within us. Conformation of the heart rather that legalistic obedience to the law. Condemnation or blessings, an easy choice.
The first is , Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
When we look at this verse we jump to the word poor as in financially poor. This is not what is meant. We need to realize that we cannot do anything of our selves . Our spirit should be like Jesus. Apart from him we can do nothing. Humility not pride. Eph.2.8
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
Think of a wild horse. A cowboy would set out to tame the horse so that it could be used. the term was often used, “to break the horse.” Some horses were easier to break than others. a high spirited animal was often difficult. The goal was to have the horse develop trust and obedience in the rider and follow his commands. To be poor in spirit for the Christian is to depend entirely on the Lord for our every need , to trust and be obedient in all that we do.
We have an example of pride and humility in Luke 18.10-13
Luke 18:10–13 (NIV)
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
We want to be in control. Jesus spoke in John 15.5-8
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Even though Jesus was God he humbled himself and came to this earth to live as a man. What better example of humility or being poor in spirit.
The second; Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.
The first thought about mourning usually goes to the loss of a loved one. this is a real sad occasion for us here in this world.,one that we struggle with, but there is another way to look at mourning. Mourning because of our sinful nature. We need to admit that we are sinners and repent, mourn for what we have done, how we have hurt our savior. Recognize that we are sinners in need of a Savior. Remember that Jesus took our sins to the cross, he paid the penalty. I am reminded of the hymn; Alas and did my Savior bleed.
Jesus mourned when he was on this earth; John 11.35
John 11:35 (NIV)
Jesus wept.
I confess, I used that verse frequently when I was in youth group. we would go around the room and each one say a verse at the beginning of our program. I have difficulty remembering verses when I am called upon to do so. and I was too lazy to put forth the effort to memorize other verses.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.
For they shall be comforted. There is a promise here. while we may mourn here on earth, we can look forward to heaven where there will be no more crying or tears. Isa. 35.10
Isaiah 35:10 (NIV)
and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
The third; “The meek will inherit the earth.” Lets begin by understanding that meek does not mean weak. There is an old joke that says the meek will inherit the earth, if that's alright with you.
We have already discussed that we are all sinners saved by the grace of God. We are to be humble, show humility in our actions, think less of ourselves, and have a gentle attitude toward others, not prideful.
We have Jesus for our example. He was meek but not weak. When tempted by Satan he responded with scripture. When challenged by the Pharisees he responded with a question for them. When he was before Pilot.
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
Pilot asked him if he was the king of the Jews Jesus told him that his servants would have saved him if he was an earthly king. Jesus could have exercised earthly power, but instead was meek unto death for the salvation of the world.
We have no strength on our own, apart from Jesus we can do nothing.
The fourth; “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled.”
The first three beatitudes are related to emptying ourselves. Now we are looking to be filled. Hunger, most of us have felt hungry at one time or another, not the starvation type of hunger. Just the normal feeling that we get when it is close to meal time. I sometimes feel hunger, but then it passes away. In the Christian walk we need to feel hunger for the Word of God, thirst for the living water of the Holy Spirit.
Most of us would say that we try to live our lives in the best way that we can, we try to follow the “Golden Rule”. We try to keep the 10 suggestions, I mean commandments, but we still might have that spiritual hunger that can only be filled with a relationship with Jesus. This is a gift that can only be fulfilled by the grace of God.
Adam and Eve had a great life in the Garden of Eden , They had a close relationship with God, but they believed Satan’s lie, disobeyed God and paid the price, separation from God. They were condemned and their offspring as well .
I have read in several places that refer to the emptiness that people who do not know God feel. There is a natural desire for a relationship, a longing for a god experience that people will try to substitute with an idol to fill the hunger for something that only God can fill.
The fifth; Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.
Jesus is challenging the world with this statement. Have you heard the phrase; “don’t get mad get even. or God may forgive you but I never will. Too often I talk with someone who relates how a family member no longer associates with them and how this hurts them badly. I have had several people tell me that a particular family member is dead to them. These statements do not reflect mercy. the Lord’s prayer say forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Do we want to jeopardize our forgiveness by not forgiving others?
I saw a carton recently where the person tells his preacher that he is forgiving everyone who has wronged him, but he is keeping a list of names just in case.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God forgives us when we repent. He gives us what we need, not what we deserve. I remember Steve Getty praying that before an election when he was pastor here. I think that prayer is appropriate now as we are approach another election.
Christians should never be soft on sin, but we should not be so hard that we cannot forgive when their is repentance. We need to remember Romans 3.23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Yes we are all sinners and in need of a Savior. As Christians we are to say yes to the needs of others, we should not ignore our obligations. There are times when we need to say no so as to not support sinful actions. Pray that the Holy Spirit will give us wisdom to know when to say yes or no.
6th is Matthew 5:8 (NIV)
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Our world teaches compromise. Many sins are excused because everybody does it. One of the phrases that we hear from teenagers is; “everybody does it” to which the parent replies. If everybody jumps off a cliff would you jump off too. There was a time when I was much younger that I believed the worlds problems could be solved if we would all compromise. i don’t believe that anymore. God cannot look at evil. There can be no compromise with sin.
Paul writes in Col.3.2
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Also in Phil. 4.8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Psalm 51:10 (NIV) David wrote
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
David knew that he needed a pure heart and he knew that God was the only one who could cleanse his heart.
Psalm 119:9 (NIV)
How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
A pure heart can be had through the cleansing blood of Jesus we cannot do it ourselves. It is through Jesus that we have the hope of seeing God.
the 7th Matt.5.9
Matthew 5:9 (NIV)
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
We often think of comfort when we think of peace. A lack of conflict, or friction in our lives. We might think again of compromise, but again we have to be careful that we do not compromise with sin. We can’t compromise with truth nor can we engage in evil no matter how honorable it may seem. True peace requires a right relationship with both God and people. Peace is living together as a community in total harmony with God’s laws not man’s laws or manipulations.
Jesus is our peacemaker. He died for our sins. He willingly paid the penalty for our sins so that we can have peace with God and have access to heaven. Eph. 2.14-18
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
As followers of Jesus we have a responsibility to be peacemakers to others. The responsibility to proclaim the good news of Jesus the great peacemaker. Romans12.17-21
Romans 12:17–21 (NIV)
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
We need to go the extra mile. Show the peace of Christ in our actions.
i always chuckle with the verse about heaping burning coals on his head. that should not be our goal, it is however the result when we return good for evil. the person who does not know Jesus cannot understand how we can respond with good. It might convict them of their sin and cause them to repent and come to Jesus.
The 8th Matt. 5.10
Matthew 5:10 (NIV)
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Persecution; this means different things to different people in different parts of the world. There are countries where being a Christian can lead to death. One of the most devastating cases for me that I heard about was the Muslim father who invited family and friends to his home and proceeded to drown his daughter in the swimming pool because she had accepted Jesus as her Savior. I can’t imagine doing that, and to celebrate the killing to preserve the “family honor.”
The Koran contains wording of Jesus being a prophet and it also talks about a coming Messiah, but that is not recognized by the rank and file who follow Islam.
Foxes Book of Martyrs was an important book for Christians from the time of the reformation. It contains stories of men and women who were killed in horrific fashions by other Christians. Roman Catholics against protestants.
I have several books from Voice of the Martyrs that tell of modern day persecutions. Imprisonment. beatings and killings. There was one pastor who was imprisoned who began evangelizing the other prisoners. He was released because so many were coming to Christ. He was deemed less of a threat outside of prison than inside.
We might also think of persecution as being insulted for our faith. ridiculed, beaten threatened with a loss of job an example being fired for praying on a football field. I just read last week of a football coach who would pray at the fifty yard line after a football game, win or lose. Some of his players would join him. He did this for a number of years until someone complained.
He was ordered to stop and refused, so he was fired. He challenged his firing and his case went to the supreme court. He won his case. Another form of persecution is lies that are told about our fith and what we stand for.
Once again we might look at compromise. many of these persecuted people would be released if they would be willing to compromise. Persecution tends to make one stronger in their faith, they will not compromise the Word of God. I Peter 1.6-7
1 Peter 1:6–7 (NIV)
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Its hard to think of persecution as being worth more than gold. there is a statement that physical instructors often tell; whatever doesn’t kill you, will make you stronger. We can apply that to our faith. It seems wherever there is persecution people of faith grow stronger. Persecution is sometimes referred to as a barometer of faithfulness.
No man is greater than his master. Jesus suffered and died. If we are called upon to suffer for Jesus’ sake we can trust the Holy Spirit to guide us. and give us the strength to withstand any trial that we face.
We remember that this world is not our home. We are on our way to our heavenly Father’s kingdom, Heaven. Hallelujah amen.