THE BLESSED LIFE (PART 2)

Introduction

-{Matthew 5}

-There was a business man in a large American city who climbed the corporate ladder, finally achieving what others around him would have considered success. He amassed wealth and luxury—having the best penthouse, driving the nicest car—fame, fortune, recognition, the envy of others. Those around him assumed he would have been the happiest man on earth because he accomplished in so little time what most people would only dream of. And yet, when he walked into his empty apartment, and was left with only himself, he felt lonely and empty and miserable. He had everything, and yet he also realized that he had nothing.

~On the outskirts of a one-stoplight town in the south, in a run down, shabby shack she used as a home, lived a single mother barely getting by. But it was her joy to sit down with her children every night to read the Bible, teaching them about the Lord she loved. She didn’t have the latest fashions for her or her family, but they dressed up as best they could and walked to the tiny church in town to be with a small church family who loved on them and discipled them in the ways of the Lord. She had nothing, and yet her and her children thought they had more than they could ever imagine.

-Now, let me ask you, which of these two are happy and blessed? You see, the world tells us one thing about being happy and blessed, and everyone who is of the world celebrates it and pushes toward it, only to find nothing at the end of that road. But God through His Word turns that completely on its head and tells us that happiness and blessedness comes from almost the complete opposite of what the world says. So, who are you going to listen to?

-In our study of the Gospel of Matthew we have come to the most famous sermon in the world—the Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus tells His followers what it means to live according to the values of the Kingdom of Heaven of which they are a part. And for those who are not a part of the Kingdom, it is an encouragement to become part of the Kingdom by faith in Jesus Christ.

-Jesus begins the sermon with the Beatitudes. And here we learn that a truly blessed life is one lived in light of God’s Kingdom values. True happiness and blessedness doesn’t come from the things of the world. Last week we looked at the first three Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit—those who recognize their spiritual need and seek Jesus Christ to fulfill that need. Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven because they see their need to repent and find salvation. Blessed are those who mourn—mourn over the effects of sin on the world, and especially mourn over their own sin. They will be comforted finding forgiveness and knowing that Christ will usher in a new heaven and earth. Blessed are the lowly/meek—those who live in humility, without arrogance. They will be the ones to inherit the new earth.

-We want to continue the study today by looking at the next four Beatitudes, taking them one at a time, and from Christ we first learn today that we are to:

1) Pursue righteousness tenaciously (v. 6)

-Do we have a desire to align ourselves with God’s version of right and truth? We should, because look at what Jesus says:

Matthew 5:6 LSB

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

-Today, sitting in the pews of a Baptist Church you all have a very important question running through your mind. And that question will actually take one of two forms : where we going to lunch after church {or} what are we having for lunch after church? Don’t try to act like that hasn’t crossed your mind.

-Why are we pondering that question? Because we have a hunger for something in particular. And when you have a deep hunger for something, you want to pursue it. You might have a deep hunger for Mexican, so you’re thinking MI CASA OR LAS TROJAS. You might have a deep hunger for a burger and ice cream, so you’re thinking CULVERS. When you hunger for something, you are obsessed with filling that hunger.

-Just think of a guy who has been lost in the Sahara desert for days. All he is thinking about is getting food and water. He has a deep hunger and thirst and that will be at the forefront of his existence until he can get it satiated. We are physical beings and we have physical appetites, and we hunger and thirst and there are ways to fulfill those appetites.

-Jesus says that we are to have such a hunger and thirst, but it isn’t for anything physical. Rather, it is spiritual. Jesus says we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Now, righteousness has a lot of different connotations in Scripture:

-There is the right standing that we are given before God through Jesus Christ. When you believe in Jesus He takes our sin and we are given His righteousness—His right standing before God. We are declared righteous. However, that is probably not the intended meaning here because until you are saved you have no desire for such righteousness.

-There is righteousness that is given the nuance of justice—that which is right and just for society. While that is a noble pursuit if it is sought according to God’s standards, that is not what is meant within Matthew’s context.

-Instead, according to the sermon’s context and Matthew’s normal use of the word, the righteousness that Jesus is telling us to wholeheartedly pursue is doing right things, living a right life, according to God’s standards so that our lives are pleasing to Him. We hunger and thirst to have a life that is biblical. It is a deep longing to see God’s will and Word established and obeyed in every area of our lives.

-Nothing should gives us as much pleasure as trying to please our Heavenly Father. And yet, if we are average Christians found in this world, we give this very little thought. But Jesus says that this ought to be our greatest hunger and thirst. Later in the sermon He tells us the seek first the God’s Kingdom and God’s righteousness. Not second. Not third. First! How do we cultivate this hunger and thirst?

-I think of the concept of acquired taste. You start eating something you don’t necessarily like, but the more you eat it, the more you like it and want it. When I was a kid, I hated tomatoes. I wouldn’t go anywhere near them. Then I was challenged to try some tomato on a sandwich. And it wasn’t that bad. So I started to add tomato to other sandwiches. Then I added tomato to my burgers. And then I added tomato to my salads. Now, I won’t eat tomatoes alone, but I love having tomatoes in other stuff. I acquired the taste.

-We need to acquire the taste of righteousness to cultivate the hunger of righteousness. You develop a deep, persistent longing for spiritual growth and alignment with God’s will. You read Scripture and see the blessedness of holy living. You pray to God to give you heart that seeks to please Him. You commune with Christ, and find that building that relationship gives you greater happiness than anything that the world has to offer. You acquire the taste that living for Jesus is something more desirable than gold or silver.

-And I believe that is the meaning behind Jesus saying that if you have this hunger and thirst for righteousness, you will be satisfied/filled. The more you seek out living that righteous life, you will find it more satisfying than anything else. It’s actually kind of a circle. The more you hunger, the more you seek and then the more you are filled, and then you hunger it even more, and find it more satisfying, so you hunger even more, and on and on.… A blessed life is pursuing a righteous life tenaciously. But then Jesus says that a second value for blessedness is to:

2) Provide mercy generously (v. 7)

-If you have ever been in a miserable situation and needed someone to show you compassion, how much more should we show the same to others. So Jesus gives us this next Beatitude, saying:

Matthew 5:7 LSB

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

-The biblical concept of mercy involves having deep empathy and feelings toward someone who is suffering. But it is not enough to have mere pity on a person, it leads us to action to do something about it. One person defines it as a total identification with another person’s situation. And this leads us to act in a certain way toward them. That is why James told us:

James 2:15–16 LSB

15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

-The apostle John tells us the same thing:

1 John 3:17 LSB

17 But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

-Mercy is not just a feeling, it’s an action. And throughout the Bible tells His people that instead of going through religious motions thinking yourself to be religious, it is better to go show mercy toward someone. Jesus quotes quotes Hosea to blast the Pharisees. He told them:

Matthew 9:13 LSB

13 “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion [mercy], and not sacrifice,’...”

-You go to church, you read your Bible, you post Christian-type posts on your social media—and God says I would rather you show mercy.

-Mercy definitely has the connotation of showing compassion on those who are suffering, as the verses that I mentioned have indicated. Don’t turn your back on someone in need. Do what you can with what God has given you. We think of Jesus parable of the Good Samaritan. While the religious people passed by on the other side of the street ignoring someone in need, the Samaritan stopped to lend aid. He showed mercy.

-But mercy has other meanings as well.

-It has the idea of leniency toward those who mistreat us. Jesus said:

Luke 6:28 LSB

28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who disparage you.

-And just a few verses later:

Luke 6:35–36 LSB

35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to the ungrateful and evil. 36 “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

-And then related to that is another nuance to mercy, and that is the idea of forgiveness. You show mercy to someone by forgiving them when they sin against you. And this is where we find the end of this Beatitude—You are blessed in showing mercy because you will be shown mercy. This is not saying that your receiving mercy is contingent upon you showing mercy. It is saying that you will show mercy because you have received mercy. This relates to what Jesus says later in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 6:14–15 LSB

14 “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

-Because you have received mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, you show mercy and forgiveness to others. But if you defiantly refuse to show mercy and forgiveness toward others, you demonstrate you haven’t truly experienced the mercy and forgiveness that is found in Jesus Christ.

-John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace, was a captain of a slave ship. But then he got saved and experienced the amazing mercy of God during a storm at sea. He immediately quit what he was doing and became a fervent abolitionist. Because he received God’s mercy, he worked as hard as he could to extend that mercy to the suffering.

-Do you have a heart ready to show mercy to others, or is your heart hardened to everybody else but yourself? You will not be blessed without showing mercy. And Jesus continues to probe our heart through the third Beatitude we are looking at today, and it tells us to:

3) Practice purity fervently (v. 8)

-Have you ever spent time reflecting on what motivates you to live like you do? We are called to consider what is going on inside of us when Jesus gives us this Beatitude:

Matthew 5:8 LSB

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

-Notice that Jesus doesn’t say blessed are the pure in body or action. Because Jesus knows that it is from the inside that the true person resides. That’s why He told His disciples:

Matthew 15:18–19 LSB

18 “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. 19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false witness, slanders.

-What is on the inside will show itself many ways on the outside, no matter how much you try to hide it. That is why Jesus gave this warning to the religious leaders:

Matthew 23:25–26 LSB

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

-And similarly, in this Beatitude, Jesus calls us to be pure in heart. Yes, that means a holiness and purity of character. But I believe it is also hinting toward a specific demonstration of this purity because this Beatitude is related to a psalm of David, and there is a very specific significance Jesus is driving at. The Psalm says this:

Psalm 24:3–6 LSB

3 Who may ascend into the mountain of Yahweh? And who may rise in His holy place? 4 He who has innocent hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to worthlessness And has not sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall lift up a blessing from Yahweh And righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face—pay heed O Jacob. Selah.

-We might use the word sincerity for this definition of purity. According to the psalm, the pure in heart is described as someone who has not lifted their soul to worthlessness. It’s talking about having a sincere devotion toward God. The worthlessness that David warned against was the worthless idols that people have a tendency to follow. Idols are worthless, powerless, meaningless. They can do nothing; they can help no one. And yet our hearts run to them.

-But a person with a pure heart turns aside from devotion to idols—where your devotion is toward anything other than God. This include devotion to self. If you are more devoted to yourself than you are to God, you are your own idol. The blessed have a single-minded devotion to God.

-Then there is also sincerity toward the truth. David said in the psalm that they do not swear deceitfully. This is where you have no hidden motives or agendas. You do not put up a wall of lies to get what you want. Your whole life, public and private, is transparent before God and man.

-And Jesus says that those who have such a purity of heart will see God. Yes, as the psalm says, they will ascend the holy hill. They show they have been saved by Christ and are going to heaven. But it also means that they’re heart is in a place where they see God by faith all around them. They see God at work. They see God moving and doing things.

-There was a missionary who spent her life serving the Lord in the most impoverished conditions. She ministered out a pure heart of love for Jesus and for the people. This allowed her to see God in every grateful smile of the people she served. She saw God in every small miracle she witnessed daily.

-The pure of heart are blessed and see God. And then quickly and finally, we learn in the fourth Beatitude of the day to:

4) Promote peace eagerly (v. 9)

-In a world that seems to be filled with constant conflict and strife, people of God’s Kingdom are called to be a source of calm as Jesus gives this Beatitude:

Matthew 5:9 LSB

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

-The biblical idea of peace is not only the cessation of hostilities, but speaks of wholeness and well-being—shalom. And to be a peacemaker bringing about this shalom does not mean passively just trying not to cause conflict. It is an active attempt to make peace wherever one has influence. We are told:

Psalm 34:14 LSB

14 ... Seek peace and pursue it.

-This means that we actively try to maintain peaceful relationships with everybody in our sphere. We are told:

Romans 12:18 LSB

18 if possible, so far as it depends on you, being at peace with all men,

-Charles Spurgeon always said he considered pastor Robert Chapman to be the saintliest man in England. Chapman would often go out and open-air preach and there was a grocer who would verbally attack him mercilessly, but Chapman would not retaliate. The story is told that some of Chapman’s relative’s came into town.

~He was a bachelor his entire life, so they decided to cook for him and asked where to order groceries to have them delivered. Chapman pointed them to the store of the man that always berated him. The grocer though they must have come to the wrong store, but they insisted Chapman sent them. When the grocer delivered the groceries and Chapman answered the door, the grocer broke down in tears at Chapman’s graciousness and gave his life to Christ that very moment.

-The other person might have a problem, but on your part you do whatever you can to maintain peace with the people that are in your life.

-But being a peacemaker obviously goes beyond this. It means that you are also a catalyst of reconciliation. Where you have some influence, you seek to lesson tensions, create solutions, and create open channels of communication so that all parties involved are understood. Make peace between people.

-But our greatest calling is to lead people to have peace with God through Jesus Christ. Because of sin all humans are enemies of God. They are hostile toward God. Yet, God did not want us to remain enemies, so He made a way of peace—a way for His justice to be satisfied, for our sins to be covered, and for us to be declared holy and right before Him. So God made the way of reconciliation Himself. Paul said:

2 Corinthians 5:18 LSB

18 ... God...reconciled us to Himself through Christ ...

-But then that same verse gives us our calling if we have been so reconciled:

2 Corinthians 5:18 LSB

18 ... God... gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

-Paul a few verses later says:

2 Corinthians 5:20 LSB

20 So then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as God is pleading through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

-Or, as Jesus calls us—peacemakers. Jesus says we will be called sons of God. When someone is described as a son of something it means that they have the same nature and characteristics as whatever they are called son of. To be called a son of God means that we take on the character of God. And God Himself is a peacemaker.

-This is world full of conflict and strife, sadly sometimes it happens even in the church. But a Christian should have no part of it. Paul tells us in Romans 16 to mark and avoid anyone who causes strife. We are to be peacemakers. Where do you have influence where you can bring peace?

Conclusion

-These values are so contrary to what the world thinks as happiness and blessedness. But Jesus says true blessedness comes when you hunger and thirst for righteousness, are merciful, are pure in heart, and are a peacemaker. And then see how spiritually rich you become.

-Are you looking for a church where you can be encouraged in your Christian walk to seek the values of the Kingdom of God? Join our family...

-Christian, come to the altar and ask God to give you a hunger for righteousness, or ask to have a merciful heart, or ask God to reign in your wandering heart, or ask God to use you to make peace where there is conflict.

-But if you have never believed in Jesus, you do not have peace, and God will not show you mercy. Jesus died for you and rose again to make peace and show mercy, so believe in Jesus Christ today...