Pocket Guide to the Kingdom

Intro

Today, we get to start one of the most significant, and controversial messages Jesus ever gave. We call it the sermon on the mount. It is from chapters 5-7 of Matthew, so we sill be here for a while.

Significant because this is how we understand how we are to live in Jesus’s Kingdom. But also controversial as people debate multiple different issues in Jesus’s words, including, who this is even to and what time it was meant for.

Today we start in the beatitudes. Or the Blessings. We will look at all 8 of them today.

I have titled this sermon “Pocket Guide to the Kingdom” as we look at the first 10 verses today on life in the kingdom.

When you think about a pocket guide, we think of a way to quickly reference something and get a limited amount of highly important data.

When i was in High School, my family lived in the UK. It was relatively easy for American’s to live there. Traveling and Vacationing to other countries like Hungry, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Romania, was not much different than driving to another state, or even to Canada. Except for one major difference. The languages and customs. Once or twice a year, my family would go to explore one of these countries. And before we went, we would get a pocket guide. This was before the time of cell phones when you could simply google something on the fly, or translate conversations in real time. On the car ride, we would read some of the pocket book to understand cultural issues, things that were relevant with how we interact, and also language issues. We would try to get prepped to live well and have a flourishing vacation. But, when we were there, we would continue to study that pocket guide to ensure we were doing things right, and saying things right.

This is the what the Beatitudes are for us as well. They are a reference guide for what it looks like to live in the Kingdom of God. We can reference them and study them for how Jesus’s disciples are meant to be living now that we are part of his kingdom.

When I say Jesus’s disciples, I am talking about all of us. Jesus right now only has called 4 people to follow him, but we know from other texts that Jesus had more and more than the 12 who were considered disciples.

Main Point: Disciples of Jesus living for the Kingdom expect God’s gracious blessings.

For the Fortunate Followers 1-2

First today, we see the fortunate followers.

The outline is a bit odd today. You might be thinking “we hired a pastor that doesn’t know how to create a basic outline!” But the beatitudes are challenging to outline, and but i think there is a pattern to them.

You can kind of see that the first and last beatitudes are the book ends. P stands for present as the promise is in the present tense. These ones are currently living as part of the kingdom of heaven.

FP means future passive as these promises are divinely fulfilled in the present and future.

FT means it is a promise that uses a future transitive verb with a direct object. If you don’t have notes in front of you, its going to be really hard to see how this makes sense. But if you do have notes in front of you, you can see the pattern being set up.

You can see the outline makes a chiasm. Some chiasms in scripture are obvious, some are not. This one is not. But I love the look on an outline of Chiasm to show parellels. I might get to heaven someday and God will say “Why did you think that was a Chiasm? It wasn’t!”

Two things are important to understand from this structure. First, disciples living in the kingdom of heaven live this way, and Second, there is a present and future aspect of this kingdom. It is the already and the not yet that we have talked about. We already live in it and await it’s full fulfillment. Like a boat coming into the yard, it is here and is still coming to be fully boarded. The advantages of being under God’s reign already exist in this life, and are yet to come in the next.

Notice in verse one who this discourse is for. It is for his disciples. He sees the crowd, but gives this message to his disciples. The crowd may have been listening, but he is telling the ones who have chosen to repent and live for the kingdom what it looks like to live in the kingdom.

Remember Jesus main message from chapter 4? Repent because of the kingdom of heaven. But here, it seems like some have accepted this message. Jesus does call these disciples to repent. Or many in light of their desired repentance, he is telling them what it looks like to repent.

There are not two levels of Christians. Some who are Christians, and some who are super christian dsiciples. All are meant to be disciples by following Jesus’s teachings.

I want to spend some time talking about what this sermon is not.

Some scholars believe that this sermon is not meant for us, but meant for jewish people during the Millennial reign of Christ in the next age. But Jesus is not saying this. It is not a manifesto yet to be lived out at a future time, but a guideline for current disciples.

Jesus is not going to be giving a legalistic code. He is not giving us a way to earn salvation, a better life, or a relationship with God. We cannot earn God.

Some have looked at the sermon on the mount and thought that this is an unachievable standard meant to show humans how insufficient they are. Lutherans would understand these three chapters in this way. Jesus is showing just how incapable we are and how much we need salvation. Sure, this is part of the message.

Some like Gandi have seen this as impactful for social progress. And wanting to enact it for all of society.

Both of these groups, the ones who treat this like social progress, and the ones who treat it like a moral condemnation miss miss the Grace of God given to us in Jesus’s new way of living. He intends it to be a guide for his disciples lives, and he expects and knows they will live in this new way.

We receive what has been graciously given to us and live in light of that grace in gratitude. Because we have graciously been brought into the kingdom because of Jesus, it now shows with the way we live our lives.

While we might be tempted to see this as ethical demands, we also see God’s grace intimately given to us in our daily lives.

Take a quick look at verses 3-10. Do you see harsh demanding language with telling you “do this” and “act like this”? No! These are declarative sentences of promise meant to encourage you and invite you into this kingdom living.

You might consider joining a club like girl scouts or boy scouts. Think of how once you join, you learn what it is like to be a part of the club, and what life looks like, what you can expect. To be a part of the club means learning to down outdoor survival skills. It means building a tent. Finding firewood. Learning how to find food and cook food. Enjoying the outdoors. To be a boy scout or girl scout is to do these things.

Jesus is telling us now that you are in the club of the kingdom of heaven, here is what we do and what you can expect.

The followers have a relationship with the father, and are called to a new lifestyle because of it. This lifestyle is counter-cultural, or alternative to the rest of the world.

Notice in verse one that Jesus “goes up on a mountain.” You are meant to think of Moses going up to the mountain. Remember when Moses goes up to get instruction for this new group of people called out of darkness into the light, into relationship with God, are given instruction with how to live in a way that is alternate to the rest of the world.

Here Jesus is doing the same thing. In light of this new relationship with God in the Kingdom of Heaven through his Son, we are called to a new way of life. Out of darkness, into light.

The call to action is only possible because of Jesus’s new Kingdom. It is an invitation to experience and know God’s grace fully through living in a part of Jesus’s kingdom.

P. Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the Poor 3

First, lets look at verse 3. Matthew 5:3 “3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.”

It’s going to be important that we talk about this word “blessed” or “μακάριοι” in greek since it comes up so many times. What does it mean that these ones are blessed?

In the Old Testament, here are some ways it was used, you can see most often used in Psalms, but primarily wisdom literature. It’s usually used of a person in light of God’s grace.

And then you can also see this one from the new testament focuses really on Jesus’s teachings.

Some translations say “happy is the one...” but this isn’t a helpful word either since it is not merely a feeling. Also, happy comes across nearly as a command, like “you ought to be happy!”

“Fortunate” is a good word, but might connotate luck. And we of course believe in the sovereignty of God, not luck.

If you watch the wildly popular Australian cartoon, they say “good on ya” all the time. This is a similar idea.

When we think of the word blessed, we might think of the word “Congratulations.” Think of the way we use this word. When someone completes a school degree or gets a certification, we say “congratulations” as a way of saying good job, well done for the hard work.

But we also use “congratulations” in a different way. This week in the Church groupme, it was lit up on Thursday night with congratulations to Craig and Emily Sweet who had their third child. When we say “congrats” are we intending to say “good job” like a college graduate? I think we are using it in a different way. Good job on having a kid!

What about for someone’s birthday? Erika and I congratulate each other at our kids birthdays, another year we miraculaously kept a human being alive, by the grace of God. But we say “congradulations” sometimes at birthdays. What are we saying?

What about when we say it at weddings. Are we saying good job to the bride and groom? What have they done to merit this congratulations? Nothing. They haven’t really been through the difficulty of marriage, the hard times, are we praising them for their efforts?

I would say that when we say “congratulations” we are saying it right now for this moment, and also it having an effect on their lives moving forward.

When we congratulate Craig and Emily, we are saying “look how great your life is with this little one you get to bring into the world. How full of joy you must be. Oh how the rest of your lives are now changed.”

At a birthday, we say it as way of saying how great that they lived another year, and are ready for the next.

At a wedding, we congratulate people on the new life they are starting. A life that is going to be changed from what they knew before. A life that is intertwined with “for better or for worse” “in sickness and in health” “in times of joy and times of sorrow.” You are blessed because you don’t go through life alone, but have a covenant partner. You’re life is presumably better.

The idea of blessed here is best understood in my mind as “congrats.” Meaning, that the one who lives in this ways is flurishing, thriving, honarable, full of beauty.

So what does poor in spirit look like?

It is not speaking of someone’s weakness or poverty, but rather their relationship to God. They recognize who they are in light of God.

While Jesus is not commending those who are worse off financially, the poor in spirit, and the poor in pocket are not completely disconnected.

Often, people with less financial security are naturally and necessarily dependent upon God. Not that living in poverty makes you more holy, but it is easier for those living in poverty to understand their position before God.

There is a ditch on both sides of the road. Julian the Apostate, a Roman Emperor in the 4th century desired to confiscate all Christian property so they could all enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

But the ditch on the other side would be wealthy people who merely claim that they are dependent upon God, but trust in their wealth and store it up while calling it stewardship.

Those living in poverty might be at an advantage, but all disciples rich and poor in the kingdom are meant to have this posture before God.

If you are well off financially, Jesus is not calling you to sell everything you have. He is saying that his disciples realizing your true dependance in unworthiness before God.

And there is a promise to the ones who have a true dependence upon God. It is not ruling in royalty, but they reap the benefits of being subjects to God’s rule. They are part of his Kingdom.

There is a reversal of the worldly way of thinking. The world might look at Kingdom disciples as wimps, as losers. The world might say they have a crutch in life and call it God. But the promise is that though this might be the worlds perspective, this is not God’s perspective when you are a part of his kingdom.

The World might think that someone who is well off or dependent upon themselves is blessed by God, but Jesus is telling us this is not kingdom living.

Again, i’m pointing out the present tense of this promise. The ones living poor in spirit are part of the kingdom now.

In this very first beatitude, we are already seeing God’s grace, not laws and a list of rules.

I had a boss one time who was well known for being extremely generous. The people that worked for him were often poor, and he took care of them. If anyone was in need, realizing they could not get by on their own, he would take care of them. To be a part of his “kingdom” was to be graciously provided for.

In the promise of God’s kingdom, we see Grace because God’s kingdom is not given to the rich, a specific nationality, or because of earthly merits and achievements. It is given to the poor in Spirit to realize they don’t deserve anything they have before a infinite God. They have nothing to offer and do not try. They depend upon God.

This is going to be a huge theme in Matthew. These are not conditions to enter the kingdom, all must confess that they achieve nothing before God, but he gives to them freely.

FP. Comfort for the Mourners 4

Next, Comfort for the Mourners. Matthew 5:4 “4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

This is not some odd command to be happy when life is hard. This is a promise of blessing for those who mourn.

The Counter Culture aspect is that the world when we see someone in times of tragedy and mourning, we often think that God is depriving that person of blessing, or with holding blessings. That is why their life is hard. But Jesus is saying that the ones going through difficulty and mourning, are blessed.

We see a contrast being set up. An invitation to put yourself under God’s care because he does care.

Certainly there will be times of rejoicing for the disciples of Jesus, but they will also be disadvantaged and mourning.

If we consider mourning in light of the rest of scripture, it is a mourning over our present condition, trials we are going through, tragedy in the world, but realizing that humans and our sin are to blame.

Think about the prayers of the Old Testament saints. Sadness over their current condition and the way the world is, but realizing that human sin, and even personally, their sin is to blame.

But in this state of realizing our sin, we experience the Gospel of Jesus.

Comfort, true comfort, comes to us in Jesus. Realizing that in our sin, Jesus came to rescue us and forgive us of our sin and all uncleanness. And through this forgiveness, we are comforted in our restoration before God.

FT. Inheritance for the Meek 5

In verse 5, we see the Inheritance for the Meek. Jesus says Matthew 5:5 “5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

The meek are similar to the poor in spirit. Ones who do not have an attitude of arrogance and oppressiveness. The ones who are humble are blessed by God.

Meekness is gentleness and self control. Meekness requires us to be real enough with ourselves in who we are before God that this carries to our attitude and actions towards others.

There are many Old Testament promises that deal with land fulfillment, an actual specific location of the earth, namely, the land of Israel. But here, these ones who have humbled themselves before God and people, inherit not the land of Israel, but the whole earth.

There is a counter cultural aspect here. Typically, it is the confident people, the arrogant people, the oppressive people, the ones who run over people to achieve their own goals. These ones are typically the ones who “inherit” the earth. They have wealth and fortune, land and property.

But Jesus is telling us of the great reversal. Consider how this verse is rooted in the Old Testament

Psalm 37:7–9 ESV

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! 8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. 9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

This is a reminder of God’s reversal. The ones who appear successful will be removed from what they fought so hard to obtain, and it will be given to the ones who did not try to obtain it.

We get this idea in Christianity that we are meant for some Aethereal place int he sky, and need to be removed from the earth. Jesus’s disciples are meant to see themselves as salt in the earth, transforming the earth by the gospel of Jesus. We desire for God to bring heaven to earth. This is what we pray for. Thy kingdom come they will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is the perspective Jesus wants his followers to have.

FP. Satisfaction for the Famished 6

Then Satisfaction for the Famished in verse 6. Matthew 5:6 “6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”

This one carries the idea of both living righteously in the areas we have control over it, and desiring it for the areas we don’t have control over. We long to live for God, and want others to as well.

We realizing Christ giving us his righteousness in salvation, and long for the rest of the world to experience that as well.

The hungering and thirsting show us an eagerness to live as God requires, submitted to his reign. Living the way God would have us to live, in line with his character.

In connection to physical substance, remember Jesus’s response to Satan in the previous chapter. We don’t live by bread alone, but from God’s words. His words are what sustain us in our life.

We see Satisfied being the word that is promised for us. It was a word used for fattening up animals. We might say “blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be thanksgiving day stuffed.

When thanksgiving comes, and we long for the food during the whole day of preperations, smells, cooking and baking, and then we finally are satisfied when we eat together.

There are a lot of pursuits and things to long for in this life. But if you long for God’s way of living, you will be satisfied.

Is God’s grace not in that? That human satisfaction is being promised.

Notice the Gospel here for us as well. This is a lot less of a verse on your behavior, but more dependent upon the actions of God.

FP. Mercy for the Merciful 7

We get to verse 7 and the mercy for the Merciful. Jesus says Matthew 5:7 “7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

Mercy is closely connected to forgiveness in scripture.

Mercy goes beyond just forgiveness and entails generosity to others. This is seeing things not just from my perspective but from the perspective of others. Not stubbornly trying to accomplish what I wan, not taking offense quickly, or being glad at other’s failures.

The counter cultural aspect is when we think about the worlds philosophy. Don’t get mad, get even. Take what is yours.

But Jesus tells us to live a part of the kingdom is to experience mercy and give mercy. This is a reciprocal promise.

The promise of mercy is a diving passive pointing us to God being merciful to the followers of Jesus.

FT. Relationship for the Heartfelt 8

Next, we see relationship for the heartfelt in verse 8. Jesus says Matthew 5:8 “8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Some understand this as either inner moral purity, or singlemindedness. But i think it is both.

The counter culture here for us is that the world tells us that the ones who are simple, or pure, don’t go far in life and relationships. It is the ones who are adult thinking, sophisticated, broad minded, complex philosiphers, thinking three steps ahead, these ones do the best. But not so in the Kingdom of Heaven.

It is not ritualism, but heart desire for God. And also not having sham deceit, and moral filth hiddenn or combined with your worship, but completely following God.

This declaration appears to be rooted in Psalm 24 where the ones who are qualified to be with God, or ascend the hill, are characterized by clean hands and pure hearts. And Jesus seems to be communicating this same idea.

God is not looking for a bunch of brains to logically agree with him, he is looking for heart followers. People that long for God, not what they can get from God, but because they desire God with their whole hearts. Jesus will remind us later that God’s plan was always to have all of you, your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

In a way, this feels somewhat invasive. We are vunerable before God. It is through the vulnerability that we know God.

God is not looking for you to keep a bunch of rules, he is concerned with true heart worship. He is not looking for the religious practices. Jesus will spend some time later on to show the flaws of the pharasees in that they do a much of outward deeds, but do not have a heart that follows God.

God is not looking for robots to be a part of his kingdom. He is looking for people who love him with their heart. In the gospel, we know we are given by grace a new heart and God’s Spirit that shows us how to love God with our inner most being.

We see a lot of people come to God seeking what they can get rather than simply and purely wanting to know and have a relationship with this one. They want their life to be better, receive benefits from God, live their best life now. This is not a pure heart that longs for God.

Think about a relationship. If you enter into a marriage, and never talk about difficult issues, never share your heart with the other person. You just talk about facts, the schedule, what we have to do, and i seek to see how this marraige is meeting my needs, how healthy will your relationship be? This is how many marriages die. Couples must continue to be vulnerable before each other, sharing their heart, loving the other person not out of a desire to serve self, but a desire to love the other one. This is how relationships thrive.

To be a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is to have a pure heart. Both in the way of wanting to know and align with his will, and also not have an alterative motive for what we get out of the deal.

And the reward is that you get what you are looking for! The ones seeking God with a pure heart get to have God! They get to see his face!

This promise is wrapped up in wonder. How will we be able to see an invisible Spirit being? How will we be able to look at his holiness? How will we “see his face” when no one has been able to see God or certainly been able to see his face?

The gospel is here. Its only because of Jesus that we who are a sinful people can know the God in this moment and live for the promised day of seeing his face. It’s only by the blood of Jesus washing away our sin, and his righteousness given to us that we can know a holy God.

When we are tempted to deal with all of our faults and flaws, our vulnerabilities, our errors, our sins, and we question if God would ever accept someone like us, or how could he who is holy have a relationship with us who are wicked and have so many problems?

The Kingdom of Heaven is counter cultural. It says stop performing and doing what you think is all the right stuff. What you really need is to be changed from the inside. Jesus will change you from the inside out. So stop faking it till you make it and seek God with your heart.

We rest in the fact that our relationship with God is not dependent upon my work and performance, but because of the work of Jesus. It’s because of him and only because of him that we have a pure heart.

Jesus comes to be God with us. We experience our relationship with God through Jesus. By faith we accept this relationship and await the full revealing still yet to come.

FP. Connection for the Peacemakers 9

The we see a connection for the peacemakers in verse 9.

Jesus tells us that Matthew 5:9 “9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.”

True kingdom disciples seek peace and pursue it.

This is much more than walking around with a smile or in a ora of zen. This is an offensive action, not a passive state of being.

Peacemaking, not peacekeeping, is an offensive action, not a defensive state of being.

We aren’t reactionary just being kind in response to people that are unkind to us, we make active attempts toward people who have conflict with us.

One of the greatest areas of conflict in our lives is family. In marriage, or with kids, siblings, parents, extended relatives.

This is counter cultural living in two ways. People that are not seeking to make peace, might try to be competitive at winning, aggressive, domineering.

But another person of a different character might also not seek peace if they just put there feet up in fear of conflict in order to keep the status quo and not make changes.

Jesus’s Kingdom lifestyle is for disciple who don’t passively sit back and say “oh well” but that actually want to go make peace with others. Rather, “I want to bring God’s kingdom of peace in the world with my relationship with this person.”

The promise if for them to be called the children of God. This is a common way of saying they align with God’s character and represent him. Matthew talks about Children of the Kingdom, Children of the wedding hall, Children of the evil one, Children of those who killed the prophets, all to associate a people or connect them to someone.

The ones who are peacemakers are showing that they represent God’s character in how he has made peace through his son. It is here we see the gospel. The gospel in that Christ is the supreme peacemaker. He made peace on our behalf, both vertically and horizontally. With God and with people.

We now join him in the work of peacemaking in our relationships to others, and in this, we show that we are the Children of God.

P. Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the Persecuted 10

Last today, the kingdom of Heaven belongs to the persecuted.

Here is what Jesus says in Matthew 5:10 “10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.”

This is the other book end for the disciples living in the Kingdom. And we have stated it a few times that these beatitudes are counter cultural, opposed the the worlds system of norms. Jesus is showing the result of living opposed to the worlds system, and it is persecution.

To be clear, this is not living as a victim and claiming religious persecution for yourself.

Rather, this is an opposition to God and his kingdom. Living according to Jesus’s system implies that there is a better way, that a change for humanity is nessisary.

People don’t want to be confronted with the truth that they should be seeking God’s kingdom, they are happy to live with seeking their own kingdom. They live for the kingdom of self rather than Christ.

Notice the perspective of Kingdom life. It is not a “hunker down till the rapture” type of mindset. It is not a “hide up in a cabin in the hills” mindset. It isn’t a prepper mindset either. For the world to persecute Kingdom disciples, they must know you and your kingdom living.

Kingdom living is not done in a closet. Kingdom living doesn’t look like me saying a prayer over my food at home and then no body around me knows I am a Christian.

Kingdom Children live in society, influence the people God puts in their lives. They engage with the world and do not hide from the world. But engagement comes at a cost.

To clarify, we do not think Jesus is saying that everyone needs to march down to their local government building and start advocating for changes.

Jesus is desiring heart change through the gospel. He wants flourishing disciples where he has planted you with the people he has put in your life. We will deal more with this topic next week.

Beyond the Walls

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about living in God’s kingdom. If you aren’t yet a part of God’s kingdom, please come an talk to us.

We all realize that according to these standards, we have failed. Failed to be merficful when we should have. Failed to be pure when we should have. Failed to be righteous when we should have. We all have sinned before God and don’t deserve to be a part of his Kingdom.

But it is here that we experience the Gospel.

Jesus lived this all out perfectly. And then, after living out the perfect human life, he traded it to us. He took our sin and judgement, and replaced it with his righteousness. Jesus took our sin to the cross, and through his resurrection to new life, we realize that we can also have new life. This life is being offered to you if you will confess your sins and with your heart, believe that God raised Jesus from the dead for your sin.

To those of us who have been saved, please remember that Jesus is not giving us a harsh list of rules to follow. We do not look at this list to see a harsh set of demands. We also don’t look at this list as a check list in order to get something. We don’t do these things to earn something.

If you are trying to earn your way into the Kingdom, you will be left out of the kingdom. God has given us grace through his son Jesus.

Think of Arcade as a young Child, maybe a 5 year old. You have all those cheap junky toys to win, but there is one really cool toy to win. But as a 5 year old, you aren’t getting a massive amount of tickets. You are only getting one or two everytime. You need 50000 tickets to get the prize. But just when you are realizing how incapable you are, the coolest older kid walks by and gives you all of his tickets. The tickets are righteousness. This is what Jesus has done for us. He has given us his righteousness. Now we can live in the arcade of the Kingdom of Heaven, living righteously, knowing the prize is for us, obtained by another.

Take the devotionals.

Lets take a moment to bow our heads and close our eyes.

Thank God for his promised blessings he gives to those apart of his kingdom.

Thank Jesus for making a way to be a part of Kingdom Living.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you live faithfully this week.