Beatitudes

Matthew 5:1-12

Matthew 5:1–12 ESV

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught 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 meek, 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 are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Here we are introduced to the beatitudes, the very beginning of the “the greatest sermon ever preached” as some and myself have labeled it.

Now depending on your bible the little section title will either call this section, “the blessings” or the “the beatitudes”, and if you read that and wonder what that word means, it originates from the Latin word beatus, which in and of itself means “blessing” or “blessed”. But based off of context clues, that could probably have been gathered.

Now as we tiptoe into the beatitudes I want to reread these verses again, now they’ve been read once, but I’d like it if we could go through 3-10 once more, but as we read them I want us to think of God between the qualities commended and the blessings promised.

Ex: Blessed are the poor in spirit, (towards God) for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now as we go forward I want to attribute where I got this practice from, and explain it’s purpose if you haven’t yet gathered it’s purpose (we’ll get to that momentarily), I learned this practice from a man named Oswald Chambers, he was a military Chaplain in WW1 who died in Egypt while serving with the allied troops. In 1911, at the League of Prayers annual summer convention in Perth, Scotland, Chambers originally gave a study of The Sermon on the Mount to the gathering, and in 1912 published his studies as articles and in 1915 published the collection in a whole as a book. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount: GOD’S CHARACTER and THE BELIEVER’S CONDUCT. In his commentary he tells his readers to do this practice when they read the Sermon on the Mount as it puts the Beatitudes into a new perspective.

What Chambers recognized was the obvious, that the characteristics of this text is relational, and it is, but what we often like to do as man is correlate and attribute these teachings to interpersonal relationships with our fellow man. What we neglect to do is understand why Jesus is speaking. And he is speaking in relation to GOD. So in our correlation of these qualities amongst man, which is not inherently wrong, we often tend to forget these qualities in relation to GOD.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount: GOD’S CHARACTER and THE BELIEVER’S CONDUCT (Pg. 14), “The motives of a disciple is to be pleasing to God. The true happiness of the saint is found in purposefully making and keeping God first. Here is the great difference between Jesus Christ’s principles and all other moral teaching: Jesus bases everything on God-realization, while other focused on self-realization.”

As we read into the sermon on the mount, it is important that we remember who it is who is preaching, Jesus Christ, but like with any sermon, it should not be approached with a heart desiring temporary satisfaction of the flesh, and an answer on how to live, looking for a way to live from God is in and of itself foolish, but instead we should be looking to live in God. And what do I mean by this statement?

Ex: There are two men walking up a hill, and they encounter a trolley. This trolley will take them to the end of the line one way. Man one looks to man two and says, “We should take the tram, it’s easier, it’s quicker, and much more comfortable. It will also get us to the summit of the hill quicker.” Man two sits and ponders on this and responds, “you’re absolutely correct, it is easier, it is quicker, and it is much more comfortable. But it is only one way, and how will we know the path back down after we reach the summit? Would you wish to move quicker, at the cost of peril later on?” After deliberation, Man One decided he was going to take the trolley. And his ride is quite comfortable and he makes it to the top, and looks upon the hill, and congratulates himself for making the journey, and how wise he was, and the fact he understood it was smarter to take the trolley than to hike the rest of the way up. Man One then makes the decision to go back down the hill to intercept his companion. On his way down, he was unfamiliar with his terrain and he stumbled, as even though he had made it up the hill, he put none of the effort in and had none of the desire to learn the path. Man One became lost. Man Two decided to trek up the hill after Man One left him, and the trail was hard, and the trail was slow, and the trail was uncomfortable, but he laid his own understanding aside, and followed the trail before him and resided in it, not taking short cuts or rushing to the final result. When he made it to the top he looked down the hill, and he was glad for his journey. And he descended down the hill, now unlike Man One, Man Two had resided in the path and knew it’s ways, so he did not stumble and made it safely back down the hill.

In the story there are two men, Man One and Man Two,

Man One, simply wanted to make it up the hill, he knew where the summit was and knew the path, but he wanted to get there easy, quick, and comfortably without understanding that the trials would help him on his descent. Man One decided to reach for his reward without understanding that his reward carried weight, and residing on the Trail would make him strong enough for that weight. Because he decided to ignore the trail, he stumbled and was lost. Just like the man who decides to listen to Gods word, and format his life to God’s word without residing in God, without understanding God, and being brought up to bear the weight of God’s standards. Instead he will lean upon his own understanding, and his own strength, and his own way, and in his words he will give credit to God, but in his heart he is God. He will make his life look like a Godly life, but in reality it is just an empty shell and the second it makes an impact against something, it will shatter.

Man Two, like Man One wanted to make it up the hill, but Man Two knew that the quickest path is not always the best path, and is not always the path of the most reward. So instead of laying aside his struggle, he burdened down, and made it to the summit of the Hill, along the way he learned the path and became dependent on the guiding stones leading up(we’ll just assume there’s a one way sign telling people to follow the guiding stones). So when Man Two made it to the summit he became ready for the burden, and knew his way down because of the guidance of the path. Just like the man who not only decides to listen to God’s word, but decides to live in God. He knows that he can not lean on his own understanding, because he does not understand the way, he doesn’t grow weary and stumble, because he knows the path that will carry him, Man Two is a man who gives up himself to God. He does not belong to himself any more but he belongs to God, and he relies on Gods understanding, he relies on God’s strength, he relies on God’s way, and when he gives credit to God, he does it from a poor spirit, knowing that without God he would be lost.

As Chambers wrote, Jesus in everything he did or said, did or said for the purpose of God-Realization, so as we walk we need to walk as Christ walked(Ephesians 4:22-24, 5:1-2; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:6; 1 Corinthians 11:1; Romans 13:14; 2 Corinthians 3:18) and be set on the Glorification of God(1 Corinthians 10:31).

So how does focusing our attention on God, in our reading of this text expand how we are able to perceive this text? Do you think it’s necessary?

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Matthew 5:3 ESV

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Here we begin the Sermon with his first blessing, the blessing of poverty in spirit. Now in my studies the truest of statements was made by Charles Spurgeon, and it is this,

Spurgeon, Charles. The Sermon on the Mount . Titus Books, “Yet the careful eye perceives that each benediction, though appropriate, is worded paradoxically. Jeremy Taylor says, “They are so many paradoxes and impossibilities reduced to reason.” This is clearly seen in the first Beatitude, for the poor in spirit are said to possess a kingdom, and is equally vivid in the collection as a whole, for it treats of happiness, and yet poverty leads the van, and persecution brings up the rear; poverty is the contrary of riches, and yet how rich are those who possess a kingdom and persecution is supposed to destroy enjoyment, and yet it is here made a subject of rejoicing.”

As we look upon these blessings we begin to see the ample paradox of some of them(it should be noted that v.8,9,10 do not quite fit into the criteria of a paradoxical statement but they none the less should be highlighted in how the qualities commended register with the blessings promised), if you are poor, you have a kingdom, if you mourn, you will receive comfort, when you are meek, you will be deserving of the earth, when you are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, you will no longer be hungry and thirsty for righteousness in the sense of fulfillment, when you give mercy, you have been given mercy.

Now though they are paradoxical, they are all quite appropriate in the promises made based off of the qualities listed, but I will delve into v.4-10 as I get to them, for now the focus should remain on v.3.

So if we are poor in spirit, we are to be in possession of the Kingdom of Heaven. Notice that when Jesus speaks of this, he does not put it in a past tense, “they possessed the Kingdom of Heaven”, and as well he does not foreshadow, “they will possess the Kingdom of Heaven”, no the qualities listed in the presence have the benediction present along with them, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”. Not was, and not will be, it is theirs.

So as the benediction is available in the present what does it mean to be poor in spirit in the present? I think that Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones description gives the most concise and expansive answer,

STUDIES IN THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, D. Martyn Llyod-Jones, pg.33 “We now come to a consideration of the first of the Beatitudes, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ As I have already indicated in our last study, it is not surprising that this is the first, because it is obviously, as I think we shall see, the key to all that follows. There is, beyond any question, a very definite order in these Beatitudes. Our Lord does not place them in their respective positions haphazardly or accidentally; there is what we may describe as a spiritual logical sequence to be found here. This, of necessity, is the one which must come at the beginning for the good reason that there is no entry into the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God, apart from it. There is no one in the kingdom of God who is not poor in spirit. It is the fundamental characteristic of the Christian and of the citizen of the kingdom of heaven, and all the other characteristics are in a sense the result of this one. As we go on to expound it, we shall see that it really means an emptying, while the others are a manifestation of a fullness. We cannot be filled until we are first empty. You cannot fill with new wine a vessel which is partly filled already with old wine, until the old wine has been poured out.”

When considering the first Beatitude, I also want to point out another observation by John Stott, as I think it ties well into the discussion, especially after Jones’s dissection, and then I will begin my breakdown of this verse,

Stott, John. The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (The Bible Speaks Today Series) (p. 35). InterVarsity Press. “This brings us to a further question about the ‘blessings’ Jesus promised. It is a problem we cannot avoid. Do not the Beatitudes teach a doctrine of salvation by human merit and good works, which is incompatible with the gospel? Does not Jesus state clearly, for example, that the merciful will obtain mercy and the pure in heart will see God? And does not this imply that it is by showing mercy that we win mercy and by becoming pure in heart that we attain the vision of God? Some interpreters have argued this very boldly. They have tried to represent the Sermon on the Mount as nothing but a thinly Christianized form of the Old Testament law and of the ethics of Judaism. Here is Jesus the rabbi, Jesus the lawgiver, they say, issuing commandments, expecting obedience and promising salvation to those who respond. But the very first Beatitude proclaims salvation by grace not works, for it pledges the kingdom of God to ‘the poor in spirit’, that is, to people who are so spiritually poverty-stricken that they have nothing to offer by way of merit.”

Jones emphasizes the importance of the positioning in the blessings listed, and focused on the importance of the emptying in order to make a void for fulfillment that would come from the later blessings. I emphasize Jones’s emphasis prior to Stott’s conundrum because of the state of symbiosis I believe them able to find.

Stott brings up the fact of Interpreters using the text to say that Jesus supported the system of Grace by Works, anti to Works by Grace through Faith. How this is a reskinning of an old snake of Old Testament Law, into a finely packaged ‘Blessing’ law. Though Stott mentions it, Jones drilled it in deeper, that no Jesus is not doing this, and because of his divine nature and holy discernment, Jesus set the Beatitudes in a form that leads with emptying.

So to begin and answer the question I proposed before I quoted two long text and reemphasized what both men sufficiently covered, ‘what does it mean to be poor in spirit’?

To be poor in spirit is to be hollow, it is to be humbled, it is to fear God, to look at yourself in the presence of and almighty eternal God and say, “woe is me, how miserable am I, and how mighty are you Lord God, I am nothing without you, without you I would come from nothing, there would be no beginning, my existence is yours God, I am so unworthy I cannot even exclaim that my existence is yours because who am I to even begin to think that a miserable wretch as myself has any authority over myself. God you are Holy, and in your presence I cry out as Isaiah, ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’”

If you can look to God and say, ‘look at what I have done’, and hold that position without faltering, you are not poor in spirit. If you can call upon your own strength as sufficient, and neglect the power around you, you are not poor in spirit. Those who are poor in spirit know the void without God, and know that void can only be filled by God. If you read the words blessed are the poor in spirit, and don’t immediately feel shame, guilt, or a desire for fulfillment by God, then you do not have the Lord in your heart. And I pity you, I sob for you, because his awesome power and authority are like no other, and man does not have enough time, or enough conscious, or enough intellect to begin to scratch the air around the presence of the dominion and magnitude of God. When you become poor in spirit, your sin and sinful nature becomes exposed, it isn’t a matter of ‘needs to be exposed’, but a matter of ‘it will be exposed’ and if you are truly empty in spirit, you will recognize the need for and the path out of your spiritually depraved pit.

Being poor in spirit is the most fulfilling emptiness you’ll ever experience. Some may say, “how can feeling woeful of yourself make you feel better about yourself?” And my answer is, because it’s not about you, it is about God, where you are weak he is strong, and where there is more room for power in weakness, and the Lord flourishes were we falter.

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 ESV

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

So what a blessing it is to be poor in spirit, to lack strength in our own righteousness, because when we are poor, we are rich because God makes us rich in him. And that is the key to faith, dependency, and without faith, we are but lost sheep standing on the edge of a cliff, so without dependency on God the Father, on Jesus Christ, on the Spirit of God we again find ourselves as lost sheep.

Blessed are those who Mourn

Matthew 5:4 ESV

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

If any two Beatitudes were to be paired together, I would argue whole-heartedly for those of poor in spirit and those who mourn, as one leads into the other.