How Shall We Live 1

Matthew 5:1–16 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. 13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Intro

The Purpose of this series is to look at how Jesus calls his disciples to live. this sermon has 2000 words that have changed the world and are broadly used. We believe that the Scriptures are authoritative and the Jesus in this sermon has given his people a definitive way of living as people of his kingdom here and now

Over the next few months as people who have heard Christ word to us we respond, How do we live? Now that we have received such good news how do we live this out.

Pray

Setting

Matthew 5:1–2 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:

We learn from chapter 4 of Matt thats Jesus has been ministering through out Galilee and picking up disciples left and right, healing people and preaching the kingdom to come.

This crowed is a broad mix of Hebrew people who have decided to follow Jesus.

These people are under the heavy oppression of the Roman empire. Jesus’s message to this Jewish audience in a roman world is incredibly controversial

The values and virtues of the Roman world are much like ours today, These virtues are; courage, wisdom, temperance and justice.

The virtues and values that Jesus addresses in our text today the literally no one would know.

Blessing

Matthew 5:3–6 ESV

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.

These traits that Jesus calls his disciples too are not what a lot of us would call blessed.

When we take a few steps back and understand

when we say blessed were not just talking the way the world does. To borrow from RC Sproul to be blessed by God is to receive spiritual benefit from him that lasts forever -RC .

Through out the OT the idea of being blessed is a deep sense of favour and approval from God independent of circumstance

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

What we begin to see in this text is the way Jesus disciples live is completely different to the world who’s “blessings” are material

Beatitudes of Need

Matthew 5:3 ESV

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

the first three beatitudes presented by Jesus are a who the disciple should aspire to be

When we hear the words blessed are the poor in spirit this has nothing to do with material wealth

Being pour in spirit is to recognize our own spiritual desperation. Against the opposing culture that commits the sin of spiritual pride and self reliance. Jesus calls his people to come to Him in their weakness entrusting themself to him as the source of strength.

The disciples of Jesus will not be know for their strength rather by their awareness of their sin, their own weakness, and need for Jesus.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to those who place their trust in Jesus.

Matthew 5:4 ESV

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

now this is not a call to be completely happy in the face of death and grief

Rather what Jesus calls his people to here is to mourn sin. Disciples of Jesus are people who see the sin in the World, them selves, the church, social injustice, and the state of the spirit of the age and lament.

James 4:8–9 ESV

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Matthew 5:5 ESV

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Meekness is not saying to be passive and a push over

don’t elevate self but lift other and Christ

Meekness is the contrast of self assertion, it is the abandonment of pride and rights, it is the denial of self for the purpose of the Gospel.

Righteousness is the Center

Matthew 5:6 ESV

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

The needs of the people come to the centre of this text as we switch to the actions of the disciples

Poor in spirit leads to mourning sin, which leads to a meek spirit, which leads to a longing for righteousness.

Disciples must long for righteousness, it is hard for us to contextualize this hunger and thirst. Israel and subsistence

We must long out of our meekness for righteousness sake.

Beatitudes Action

These beatitudes are how righteous ness is expressed.

Matthew 5:7 ESV

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

Christians must be merciful. merciful people deliver mercy not out of their own ability or stregnth but by the power of Jesus and by the Lords example.

Exodus 34:6 ESV

6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

Matthew 5:8 ESV

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

This one connects back to the passage on those who mourn. If we see sin for what it really is and lament the curse of sin, get broken over the fact that sin is abundantly found. the poison the depravity of our sin. When our hearts see sin as it actually is we can pursue purity properly

Psalm 24:3–4 ESV

3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

We are not talking about willing our selves into purity but approaching our sin correctly. Hating sin and loving christ.

the pure don’t try to be pure for the reward of being pure. They seek purity because they love the beauty the Lord has in it.

Matthew 5:9 ESV

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

the word use is eirēnopoios, this is often miss understood as peace keepers as in military or law enforcement however it speaks to something much deeper.

This means literally one who makes peace. this is not a vocational calling this it the call of all disciples of Christ. this is hard.

this is people who seek reconciliation, you bear the cost and the weight or repair, who seek to make peace with all. even at cost to themselves.

Results of this Life

Now this is a high calling If we are reading this in the negative we will read, were gonna be poor, mourn, punching bags, merciful when its not due, prudish and need to make up with people who persecute us.

This is the worst way of reading this text, what we see is an incredibly high call. Christ invites us his people to participate in his life and death.

Christ invites us to be poor in spirit so he can give us His very spirit, invites us to lament sin and see the world he does with such love and righteousness that would not let the sinner stay the same.

He invites meekness because He Philippians 2:6 “6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,”

He invites us to hunger for the kingdom knowing that He invites us into the kingdom with open arms.

He calls us to be merciful because that is who He is!

He calls us to purity so we can be called his own children. not walking in ways that bring our destruction but in His peace.

He calls for peace because He is the prince of peace.

Now this doesn't lead to an easy life

Matthew 5:11–12 ESV

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.

the life christ calls us to, in the words of Bonhoeffer on this text “when christ calls a man he bids him come and die.”

We are called to die… Die to our self that it is no longer us that live but only Christ.

Christ is not calling us to something he hasn't already done.

Conclusion

this is not a list of things that gets you into heaven, this is not a check mark saying if i do this ill be good enough for God rather it is what governs and shapes true disciples of Jesus

The purposes of us living in this way is not only for us but for the sake of the world/

Matthew 5:13–16 ESV

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

We live not only for our selves but that God maybe glorified in us. We are called to live this way that we may be a light to a dark world.

Church you can see there is a present darkness of the age, violence, injustice, abuse, pain everywhere we go.

We know there is a better way. Christ calls us not only to this way but to his very self. Now its our turn to live in this way.