Sermon on the Mount - Beatitudes
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Beatitudes
Beatitudes
This morning we are starting a series looking at the Sermon on the Mount.
This series will walk through Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew chapters 5 through 7.
In Jesus Sermon on the Mount, He explains what the kingdom of heaven is, how it works, and what it ought to look like.
The key verse for the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 5:20
20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
With that verse the theme of the Sermon on the Mount is true righteousness.
The religious leaders of the day, had an artificial, external righteousness based on the law.
The righteousness that Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount is a true and vital righteousness that begins internally, in the heart.
The religious leaders were concerned about the minute details of conduct, but they neglected the major matter of character.
Conduct flows out of character.
The book of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus, then gives a brief account of the conception and birth of Jesus.
In chapter 2 the Magi, or Wise Men come and see Jesus, Mary and Joseph have to go to Egypt because King Herod orders all boys two and under to be killed.
Chapter 3 John the Baptist begins to proclaim the coming of Jesus, then baptizes Jesus in the Jordan River.
Chapter 4 Jesus goes into the wilderness and is tempted, Jesus then begins His preaching ministry with the message found in Matthew 4:17
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
After that Jesus calls His first disciples with the call found in Matthew 4:19
19 And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
The end of chapter 4 Jesus goes through the region of Galilee proclaiming or preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
That brings us to our text for this morning in Matthew 5.
1 When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.
2 He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Pray
Pray
The first two verses give us a introduction to the Sermon on the Mount.
We are told that at the end of chapter 4 that Jesus is in the region of Galilee, a large crowd is following Him.
Now in the begin of chapter 5, the crowd has gathered close to Jesus, so He goes up on the mountain and after He sits down, the disciples come to Him.
The disciples here are not just the 12 apostles, but the crowd that has been following Him.
In verse 3 of our text begins what we call the beatitudes.
There are 8 beatitudes that each start with blessed which means happy, fortunate, or blissful.
1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
The beatitudes like Psalm 1, does not show how a man can be saved, but rather describes the characteristics of one who has been saved.
In the beatitudes Jesus describes the divinely bestowed well-being that belongs only to the faithful.
The beatitudes demonstrate that the way to heavenly blessedness is in contradiction to the worldly path normally followed in pursuit of happiness.
The world’s idea is that happiness is found in riches, cheerfulness, abundance, leisure, and such things.
The real truth is the very opposite.
The beatitudes give Jesus’ description of the character of true faith, or the character of kingdom men and women.
I. Blessed = Received
I. Blessed = Received
1. Poor in Spirit
1. Poor in Spirit
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Poor in spirit is to be in spiritual poverty, to be conscious of one’s continual dependence on God.
It is the opposite of self-sufficiency.
It is deep humility.
It is those who are acutely conscious of their own lostness and hopelessness apart from divine grace.
Being poor in spirit is being humbled by the grace of God, and have acknowledged their sin and therefore their dependence upon God to save them.
They receive the Kingdom of Heaven - this is God’s kingdom which refers to God’s rule.
When we are poor in spirit, we will get to see God’s heavenly rule in our earthly life.
Only by being desperately dependent on God can you become what He created you to be.
2. Mourn
2. Mourn
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Mourning here is being saddened by the things that sadden God.
As believers we should mourn over sin.
Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation.
When we mourn over sin, we can experience the comfort of God to encourage and strengthen us.
3. Gentle, Meekness, or Humble
3. Gentle, Meekness, or Humble
5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
Some translations say gentle here, some say meekness, and some say humble.
These do not mean weakness.
It is like breaking a horse, you do not break the horse of its strength or speed; rather, the goal is to break the horse of its self-will.
If we remain independent, we will never maximize God’s intention for us.
To be gentle, meek, or humble is to learn to submit our will to God’s will for our life.
It is to have self-control that is empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Those who submit to the will of God, will inherit what God has allotted for them.
11 But the humble will inherit the land
And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.
4. Righteousness
4. Righteousness
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to have the right spiritual appetite.
That is to apply the righteous standards of God to our life.
We need to be hungry for that which pleases God.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
To hunger and thirst for righteousness is the opposite of the righteousness of the Pharisees.
If you train your appetite to hunger and thirst for righteousness, you will be filled, that is, you will be satisfied with divine contentment.
11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
When we hunger and thirst for righteousness we will be satisfied with a right relationship with God.
5. Merciful
5. Merciful
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
To receive mercy is to not get what you deserve, to receive pit instead of just condemnation.
When you are guilty, mercy removes the misery you should receive.
Those who extend or show mercy can bank on the fact that a time is coming when they will need mercy.
12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
6. Pure in Heart
6. Pure in Heart
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Purity of heart involves being authentic, and this begins with honesty before God.
God already knows everything, but He wants us to be honest and transparent with Him.
When we have a pure heart before God, we repent and confess everything before Him, we will see Him operating powerfully in our life.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
7. Peacemakers
7. Peacemakers
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Peacemakers are those who are at peace with God and desire to live in peace with all men.
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
As believers our peace with Christ enables s to be ambassadors of God’s message to a troubled world.
When we persevere in peacemaking we are reflecting and resembling God the Father.
8. Persecution
8. Persecution
10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
This is not about being persecuted because of wickedness (bad behavior) but about being mistreated because we display the first 7 characteristics mentioned.
Persecution can take a variety of forms and come from a variety of sources (family, friends, employers, culture, and even government).
Those who are persecuted will be in good company of a class of people of whom the world is not worthy.
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
These two verses are speaking of those that had been mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11.
Hebrews chapter 11 is commonly known as the hall of Faith, with those mentioned, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and others.
When we are willing to be rejected by men to be accepted by God, the kingdom of heaven is our reward.
II. Attitudes
II. Attitudes
The beatitudes describe the attitudes that we ought to have in our lives today.
From the 8 beatitudes we can see four attitudes described.
1. Attitude toward Ourselves.
1. Attitude toward Ourselves.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
To be poor in spirit means to be humble, to have a correct estimate of oneself.
3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
It does not mean to be poor spirited and have no backbone at all!
Poor in spirit is the opposite of the world’s attitude of self-praise and self-assertion.
It is not a false humility that says, “I am not worthy of anything, I can’t do anything!”
It is honesty with ourselves: we know ourselves, accept ourselves, an try to be ourselves to the glory of God.
2. Attitude toward our Sin
2. Attitude toward our Sin
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
We mourn over sin and despise it.
We see sin the way God sees it and seek to treat it the way God does.
Those who cover sin or defend sin certainly have the wrong attitude.
We should not only mourn over our sins, but we should also meekly submit to God.
9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’
13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’
14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Meekness is not weakness, for both Moses and Jesus were meek men.
3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.)
29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
The word translated “meek” was used by the Greeks to describe a horse that had been broken.
It refers to power under control.
3. Attitude towards the Lord.
3. Attitude towards the Lord.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
We experience God’s mercy when we trust in Jesus Christ, and He gives us a clean heart, and peace within.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
But having received God’s mercy, we then share His mercy with others.
We seek to keep our hearts pure that we might see God in our lives today.
We become peacemakers in a troubled world and channels for God’s mercy, purity, and peace.
4. Attitude toward the World
4. Attitude toward the World
10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
It is not easy to be a dedicated Christian.
Our society is not a friend of God nor to God’s people.
Whether we like it or not, there is conflict between us and the world.
Why?
Because we are different from the world and we have different attitudes.
As we have looked at the beatitudes, we find that they represent an outlook radically different from that of the world.
The world praises pride, not humility.
The world endorses sin, especially if you “get away with it.”
The world is at war with God, while God is seeking to reconcile His enemies and make them His children.
We must expect to be persecuted if we are living as God wants us to live.
But we must be sure that our suffering is not due to our own foolishness or disobedience.
