The Pursuit of Happiness- Part 1 (Matthew 5:1-5)
Notes
Transcript
Sermon
Sermon
Key Passage
Key Passage
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,
and he began to teach them. He said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we introduced the Sermon on the Mount.
This was Jesus’ introduction to His ministry as well as His introduction to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Last week we took a journey through the authorship of this book and the beginnings of Jesus ministry.
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Jesus taught that the Kingdom of Heaven had come near.
Matthew had taken his time to ensure the reader knew that Jesus was not a random guy, but rather the prophesied King, Messiah and Son of God.
When King Jesus said, “The Kingdom has come near” the audience would naturally want to know more about that Kingdom and some would want to be a part of that Kingdom.
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
At once they left their nets and followed him.
The very next verses show that Jesus called his disciples to follow Him
There was something about following Jesus and drawing near to the Kingdom of heaven.
There is only one way into the Kingdom of heaven and that is through Jesus Christ.
Then Jesus said, “Follow me”
Discipleship is our invitation into the Kingdom of heaven.
Jesus then went up onto the mountain and began to teach his disciples and everyone else around about the Kingdom of heaven.
Everything would be different in this Kingdom.
We are going to walk through each of these statements of Jesus that establish the foundation of the Kingdom of heaven.
Sermon
Sermon
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,
and he began to teach them. He said:
The first things Jesus presents to His disciples, the crowd and for us here today is something called the Beatitudes.
I have always heard these first 10 verses be called the beatitudes.
I always figured it was because they are descriptors of what our attitudes ought to be, but that is not what that word means.
‘Beatitude’ is from the Latin Vulgate word ‘beatus’ which means ‘blessed’ or ‘happy’.
Blessed
Blessed
‘Blessed’
Every line in these verses begins with the word, “Blessed”
Again, this is not a word that we are familiar with in our culture. We typically don’t walk around saying things are “blessed”.
Also, there are two Greek words that are in play here and we need to know which one it is in order to properly interpret what is being said. We want a clear understanding of Jesus’ words.
Blessed- (Greek: Makarios) - Happy or fortunate
Contrast
Greek: Eulogia- Bless, gift, praise, blessing (opposite of curse)
In the beatitudes, the word we are using is “Makarios” which means “happy”.
The first thing Jesus teaches about the Kingdom of heaven is what is considered “good” or “happy”
In our world, there are a lot of things that we would consider pursuing to bring us happiness.
In fact, I think the pursuit of happiness is something that drives many of us in life
We make our decisions and sacrifice our money for the sake of our own happiness.
Jesus articulates the definition of “happiness” in the Kingdom.
I believe that we will all find after today and after these first few weeks that the pursuit of happiness in the Kingdom is very different from the pursuit of happiness in our world.
It will require us to take a personal inventory of our lives, our hearts, our minds and our decisions and align them with Kingdom definitions.
If we follow Jesus, then this is how He is calling us to define happiness.
Poor in Spirit
Poor in Spirit
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus begins this description of the Kingdom of heaven by telling his disciples who will be given access to the Kingdom of heaven.
Last week, I said that the Kingdom of heaven is upside down and backwards from everything in this world.
Rather than teaching from the temple, he went outside and taught on a mountainside
Rather than calling highly intelligent and qualified men to follow Him as disciples, he invited unschooled and ordinary men.
Everything is backwards
If I were to ask, “Who is deserving of the Kingdom of heaven?”
In our own earthly sense any group that we want to be a part of, we want the very best.
Two weeks ago was the NFL Draft.
My Minnesota Vikings were picking. I was hoping that every player they would draft would some day be a Hall of Fame player and that they would win 12 Super Bowls in the next 10 years.
Who do I want in the kingdom of the Minnesota Vikings
The very best!
What about the kingdom of your job?
What if your bosses are saying, “We need to hire someone to add to our workforce.”
Who do you hope they hire? Unschooled, ordinary men? Or highly trained, highly competent people?
I think the choice is obvious.
In every regard, we understand that things of high value are reserved for the best and the brightest.
The Jewish people were likely in the same boat.
They had the OT law and their righteousness was dependent on how well they followed that law.
The best and the brightest were invited to follow rabbi’s and become disciples.
The rest of the unschooled and ordinary people were sent out to find jobs to help provide for themselves.
So when Jesus said, “Here is who the Kingdom of heaven is for...”
This would have taken quite a while to register in their minds.
The Kingdom of heaven is for the poor in spirit?
It is for those who literally have nothing?
What good are these people?
What do they have to offer?
Nothing!
One argument I have heard about being a Christian is that Christians are weak and that Christianity is crutch because otherwise they can’t make it in the world.
Being poor in spirit is saying, “You are right”
Following Jesus is a crutch.
It is the realization that I am broken and crippled and incapable of navigating this life without help.
When have you ever seen someone in a walker or wheelchair or on crutches and said, “Psh, that person is a weakling.”
No, they recognize that in order to be mobile, they need help.
Following Jesus is recognizing that I am broken and in need of help. I cannot do this on my own.
This is the beginning of the humility we need to be poor in spirit.
Jesus told a parable about two people at the temple:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:
“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.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Here is something that we need to consider.
The Kingdom of heaven is built on the mercy and grace of a God who helps us when we recognize our need for help.
This is not a statement that we have to sell everything and become literally poor.
I believe you can have money and be poor in spirit as well as prideful
I also believe that you can be in poverty and be poor in spirit as well as prideful.
The amount of possessions we have is not the standard here.
The posture of our heart in realizing that between us and the Kingdom of heaven, there is nothing I have that I can offer.
The gift of the Kingdom of heaven is given by grace not merit.
When we discover this reality, do you know what?
We find true happiness.
We are blessed in a Kingdom sense.
To pursue happiness in the Kingdom, we must humble ourselves and recognize our need, rather than build ourselves up and justify ourselves.
Mourn
Mourn
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
This one is the opposite of our expectations right off the bat.
If I were to say, “In your pursuit of happiness in the kingdom, be certain to find things to mourn about.”
You would say, “Obviously, that is backwards.”
I want to pump the brakes on that line of thinking and bring some context to this word, “Mourn”.
The contrast between the words, “Mourn” and “Comfort” seems pretty obvious.
But, what Jesus says here is significantly more than how we would simply interpret these words.
I want to define the word “mourn”
When we see the word “mourn” in the English language, we typically think immediately to the grief that comes when someone passes away.
When we apply this interpretation to the verse, the word “comfort” makes a direct connection and it seems to fit
I want you to know that God cares for us deeply.
When we grieve and mourn, God is our comfort. This is true and I don’t want to say that God is different from that.
But this talks about mourning on a broader sense.
Mourn (Greek: Pentheo)
To mourn, be sad, or lament
What are we to mourn? How are we to obtain a heart of mourning?
These are difficult questions until we see what the Kingdom response is to these things.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
The word “comforted” is the same word that Jesus used to define the Holy Spirit, “Paraklete”
Comfort- (Greek: Parakaleo)
To urge, implore, exhort, encourage, or comfort
As you can see, this word conveys a much broader sense than how we would typically define, “comfort”.
I think there is a Biblical picture of what this passage is talking about, and I would like to share it:
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Do you see the grief, lament and mourning when they saw the condition of their sin?
Do you see the comfort that comes in the responding, “Repent and be baptized?”
Again, we see this concept in play in Ephesians 2.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
This is our picture of mourning.
Here is our comfort, our encouragement, our Paraklete
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Paul goes on to say:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Here is the Kingdom heart that Jesus is calling us to:
Are you still pierced to the heart when you see your sin?
Do you still mourn and lament the sinful nature we carry with us?
Or do we blissfully walk saying, “I’m forgiven and my sin doesn’t matter anymore?”
Sin is still sin!
I believe the sin of an unbeliever is done in ignorance and apart from relationship with God
The sin of a believer, although covered by the blood of Jesus, is still an act of rebellion toward a God who I know.
If I say something hurtful to my neighbor that I don’t know vs. If I say something hurtful to my wife.
They may be equally hurtful, but hurting my wife cuts much deeper.
Our call to hearts of mourning has to be rooted in our knowledge and LOVE of God.
We love Him and its because of our love that we mourn and lament our sin.
When we mourn and lament our sin, we can be sure that He will take our brokenness and encourage us, grow us and send us into the world to be used for His Kingdom.
That is the greatest comfort that I can receive in light of the sin he has forgiven me of.
This isn’t just forgiveness, this is redemption!
Meek
Meek
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
This beatitude is powerful.
The word meek means gentle or humble.
Now, if we read this verse backwards again, let us ask the question: what would we typically think it would take to gain possession of the earth?
Through history, we have seen many people try and conquer the earth, or a segment of the earth.
Each time, it is done through force, power and coercion.
When Jesus says, “Your pursuit of happiness is when you are patient and humble and you get more than you deserve.”
A word I would like to introduce into this conversation is contentment.
Scripture says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
To be content with what God has given me is a purity and humility of heart that God values.
Anything we receive, we see as a blessing by God
Only in contentment can we see God’s providence.
Contentment, humility and meekness means that what we have been given by God is sufficient for us.
Again, we can be content with little or content with much.
This is not a condition of how much we possess, but rather, how our hearts view God and his providing.
Jesus will go on to talk about this topic later in the Sermon on the Mount
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
In this verse, we find the balance between contentment and complacency.
Are we to be complacent? Absolutely not!
Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness
Does this sound passive or complacent? No! This is a challenge for all of us.
How do we seek His Kingdom?
It is a surrender in every part of our lives.
How do we seek His righteousness?
I don’t know about you, but this process of sanctification takes some work, every single day.
Meekness is not complacency.
Meekness is absolute trust in God.
Our pursuit of happiness is entrusting our gain to God’s providing.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Happiness in the Kingdom of God is a pursuit well worth chasing.
However, happiness in the Kingdom of God comes from a very different lifestyle.
I must recognize my need for Him and be poor in Spirit
I must recognize my sin, allow it to pierce my heart and accept His offer of redemption
I must recognize my own ambition and put it to death and trust God.
I want to highlight that Jesus is in the comma of all of these beatitudes.
The only way for the meek to inherit the earth is if Jesus is involved.
The only way for mourning to find comfort is if Jesus is in the middle
The only way for the poor in spirit to gain the Kingdom is if Jesus is King.
There is a Puritan poem that reads:
Let me learn by paradox,
That the way down is the way up,
That to be low is to be high,
That the broken heart is the healed heart,
That the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
That the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
That to have nothing is to possess all,
That to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
That to give is to receive,
That the valley is the place of vision.
Discipleship is following Jesus into the Kingdom. This is Kingdom living.
Real Life in Action:
Head- Does my life look like our beatitudes today?
Heart- What is the Holy Spirit bringing to my attention?
Hands- Repent of wrong attitudes and actions.
Matthew 5:1–5 “Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
If we lament our sin, our condition, there is no value for our brokenness outside of the Kingdom. God will use our brokenness for His Kingdom.
Very few people can be the best. But anyone can be nothing.
