No Good Deed

Context

Sermon series: Drawn to Jesus. His early ministry. Call, teachings, and actions that invite us to draw near to him.

Last week. Jesus called the fishermen, Simon and Andrew, James and John. Follow me and I will make you fish for people. He enlisted them to share in his work of bringing people into the Kingdom of God. We were reminded that we too are called to share in Jesus’ ministry today.

In addition to the first disciples, great crowds were attracted to Jesus.

Up till now, the only proclamation of Jesus captured in the gospel record is “Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

Today we get to begin hearing Jesus’ first sermon. The famous Sermon on the Mount. Greatest Sermon ever preached! The initial portion is a series of blessings. The Beatitudes. Blessings. Like a gateway into everything that Jesus is about to preach.

Text

Matthew 5:1–12 “When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

“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.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

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

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Introduction

let the other driver go first. Then they go slow. No good deed goes unpunished.

More serious issues: love someone, they hurt you. Invest in cause, they betray you. No good deed goes unpunished.

Formula for giving up on being good.

Jesus’ beatitudes pull us rescue from that cynicism.

Exegesis (From)

When Jesus ministered among the crowds, he saw people who like us were tempted to give up on being good.

The Romans were in control. The Jews tried to follow the imposed laws, but even when they did, soldiers could abuse them. Walk a mile. Comply, then two are demanded. No good deed goes unpunished.

Religious and political extremism made it dicey for average person to express their beliefs. If they paid the temple tax, they might be criticized for not giving enough. If they paid the Roman tax, might be called a sell-out. If they paid both taxes, they could be called a hypocrite. No good deed goes unpunished.

Crowd confused, angry, hurting…tempted to give up on doing the right thing.

Jesus looks upon them with compassion.

Jesus leads them up on the mountain.

Literally, he went up the mountain, the better to speak to them.

Symbolically, Jesus is about to offer a divine word. Mountains are always places of spiritual revelation.

The most famous is Moses. He went up the mountain to get the 10 commandments. Ominous dark clouds and peels of thunder. The people were afraid for Moses and afraid to go up the mountain with him.

Jesus like Moses on the mountain. He is going to give the people a word from God. But instead of distancing them, he invites them to come up with him. Instead of thunder and dark clouds. His word begins with blessings. Tender and gentle.

Blessed are you. To these who do feel blessed. He says:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

“Blessed are those who mourn,

“Blessed are the meek,

“Blessed are those who long for righteousness

“Blessed are the merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, the persecuted

blessed are you ..... even though…it seems like you are not.

Blessed= favored/noticed/cared for by God.

Blessed are you = God sees and knows and cares about you as you try to bear up under the conditions of life.

Jesus disentangles the idea that God is with us when life is good, but when life is bad God is distant.

Instead Jesus says, No, God is with them in the messy world. God sees their pains AND God values their efforts to deal with it faithfully.

When you meekly went the extra mile, that was not in vain. God saw and approves you.

When you try to follow your faith, but it gets twisted around as zealotry , God knows and approves.

When you see injustice, such as John the Baptist being thrown in prison, and you cry out. God approves.

In our day:

We need also to know: God approves us when we are trying to live faithfully in a messy world.

When we try to be generous but get scammed by scammers! You still find ways to give. God sees.

When you offer a sincere apology…and the other person says, “whatever” but you still pray for them…God sees.

When you tell the truth, and you get penalized for it, but you keep staying honest…God sees.

Jesus says to us, as he did long ago to the crowds, You are blessed, even if it doesn’t seem like it.

Interpretation (Through)

This is an article of faith, that we are blessed even though we cannot see it.

So, we notice Jesus’ apocalyptic edge in the beatitudes.

Jesus looks forward to a time when God will reveal who is blessed.

Apocalyptic is a biblical tradition that emphasizes that God will one day change things; evil will be swept away; the righteous who are patient will rewarded.

In the book of Exodus.

Israel suffered in Egypt. They had to wait and pray. Trust that god sees and hears. Finally God sent Moses. Then there was rescue and freedom.

Christ to the crowds you are blessed, but you will have to wait to see it. Jesus is the new Moses. Yet he is greater. For Jesus does not promise merely to be free from Rome or exempt from taxation or protected from military force…. he preaches that

theirs is the kingdom of heaven

they will be comforted by God.

They will inherit the earth

they will be filled with righteousness

They will receive mercy

They will see God

They will be the children of God

Theirs in the kingdom of heaven.

Beatitudes are matched with future promises:

Blessed are you, though it is difficult now…because you will be consoled all the more greatly later.

By their faithfulness, they will see the reward of their patience.

For us today:

Some would say: Pie in the sky thinking! An mental trick (opium for the masses) to make them suffer more!

Don’t we often live the most important parts of life with hope for a distant outcome?

Marriage. Things get difficult. Stay faithful. Hope it will work out for the best.

Raising your kids. Times you just barely deal with it. Stay faithful. Hoping they will grow up.

Working you job. It’s horrible, stay faithful, in the hope we’ll make progress.

The most valuable things in life are frequently obtained because we had to hope and persevere and stay faithful.

So it is in the spiritual life.

We believe there is a pie in the sky. And we want a piece of it!

There is a God, divine kingdom…that those who seek find, those who ask receive, to those who knock, the door will be opened, therefore:

So rather than giving up on being good, we redouble our efforts.

The world, does not need to reward us. We trust God for that.

Other people do not need to reward us. We trust God for that.

Implication (Toward)

It is a great call to live by faith, to trust the beatitudes.

Jesus’ words are to be trusted.

Jesus promised:

You are blessed even though it does not seem like it.

Your faithfulness will be vindicated.

And he proved his teaching with his own life and death and resurrection.

He was faithful to God, even though he had to suffer.

he emptied himself and became poor in spirit

He mourned

He was meek

He longed for righteousness

He was pure in heart

He was persecuted.

He died on the cross entrusting himself to God.

God raised him from the dead. God vindicated his Son and turned his suffering into new life.

Jesus trusted a future he could not yet see, and God rewarded him for it.

Jesus was not the sole beneficiary of his trust in God.

We benefited too.

Jesus fulfilled all righteousness — he did the right thing in faith — for us.

By having faith in Christ, we are joined to him.

His new life is in us.

So we are to live by faith like he did.

Galatians 6:9–10 “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.”

Blessing for us. Resilient outlook. Based on fact of resurrection.

Blessed/hopeful stance. We can cry and work because a day is coming — when all tears will be wiped away, no more sighing, for the former things have passed away and behold God makes all things new.

We keep faith right now, so that when that day comes, we will say, this is the day we have been waiting for, working for.

Conclusion

Jesus looked upon the crowd with compassion. He looks upon us and sees us with compassion. He knows we can be tempted to give up on faith and goodness.

But he assures us that God sees and knows. And approves of our efforts.

And Jesus promises us, that one day, we will see our blessedness.

He proved that.

Stay faithful we share in his ministry.

No good deed goes unnoticed by God.