The MyAttitudes

ME

“Who do we usually call ‘blessed’?” (SLIDE)

The one with the promotion

The family that looks perfect

The person with money, comfort, success

The one who seems to be winning at life

“We have a scoreboard in our minds for what a ‘blessed life’ looks like.

And if we’re honest… it usually looks a lot like comfort, success, and control.”

Transition:

“But when Jesus walks onto a hillside in Matthew 5 He completely rewrites the scoreboard. The sermon on the mount is a revolutionary sermon and it all starts with this idea of who is blessed.

Landing line: “In fact, everything Jesus is about to say in this sermon… would have sounded backwards—even shocking—to the people listening.” You see what a lot of people would have labeled as blessed in this time would be the religious elite. The Scribes, Pharisees, Saduccees, Rabbis etc were those who focused so heavily on the external that their appearance are what people focused on and would call them blessed.

— Matthew 23:5 “5 “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.” The common connection that was made that the “righteousness” of these leaders was the reason they were blessed. So blessed and righteousness was often intertwined.

That is what makes this first passage from Jesus so powerful because

“In their world, righteousness was something you could see.

but In Jesus’ kingdom, righteousness is something God sees.”

GOD

The Context - Matthew 5:1-2

Matthew 5:1–2 LSB

1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,

Why the crowds?

Matthew 4:23–25 “23 And Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. 24 And the news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. 25 And large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.”

“These crowds didn’t just appear out of nowhere.

The crowds were a product of what Jesus had been doing—healing the sick, casting out demons, doing things people had never seen before.”

“And I’ll be honest—this may be a little speculation…but I don’t think most of those people showed up for a sermon.”

“I think they showed up for a miracle.”

“Some wanted to see something happen…others were hoping something would happen to them.” “Now don’t get me wrong—some probably wanted to hear Him teach…but in a generation that was very focused on physical needs…it’s hard not to see that many were there for what Jesus could do for them.”

Make the Turn (This is where it gets strong)

“Now let me ask you something…”

“Does that sound familiar?”

Modern Application (Tight & Direct)

“People still come to Jesus today…

hoping to get something from Him.”

“Maybe they want their prayers answered”

“Maybe they’re looking for community”

“Maybe they’re walking through a valley and just need help”

“And again—there’s nothing wrong with bringing our needs to Jesus…”

The Key Shift

“But here’s the question we have to wrestle with…”

“Are we coming to Jesus for what He can give us…

or for what He wants to teach us?”

Why the teaching?

Jesus saw the people and He did what he was purposed to do. He taught the people.

Mark 1:38 “38 And He said to them, “Let us go elsewhere, to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came out for.””

Jesus saw the people. Did he know in their hearts they were seeking something physical? Maybe. But how does he respond in this moment with Teaching.

For the next 111 verses Jesus is going to flip upside down these people’s thoughts on Righteousness and help them understand the truth and God’s expectations.

The Content

— Blessed - Those favored by God

— Matthew 5:3 “3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Poor in Spirit” - “Their spirit is ‘poor,’ because they feel their need of God’s help, and are aware that it can come from him alone” —

— Those who are rich and have need of nothing usually fail to recognize their need for God still. That’s why God says the one’s who will recieve the kingdom of Heaven or be citizens in the kingdom of heaven.

— Matthew 5:4 “4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

— Those in mourning are those grieving loss. but this idea is deeper than that it is also those who mourn because of the sin that is in the world and it goes even deeper than that it talks about those who mourn the lost souls of this world.

— One scholar can be summarized saying ““Jesus declares those blessed whom the men of the world would hold to be most unhappy”

— but the promised that Jesus attaches to this attitude is they will find comfort. Those who live in denial of their grief won’t.

— Matthew 5:5 “5 Blessed are the lowly, for they shall inherit the earth.”

— Lowly - Meek - Meekness is often associated with weakness when you don’t see it in the Biblical sense. This is not weakness though. It is someone who is in full control of their self.

— They will inherit the earth. Some translations say land. I would agree with those translations because Jesus again is preaching to a Jewish community and when he said they will inherit the land they would connect their thoughts to Psalm 37:29 “29 The righteous will inherit the land And dwell in it forever.” Psalm 37:34 “34 Hope for Yahweh and keep His way, And He will exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.” To inherit the land would fit more in this context if it meant they would inherit God’s kingdom.

— Matthew 5:6 “6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Ecclesiastes 1:8 “8 All things are wearisome; Man is not able to speak of it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing.”

We have an insatiable appetite. Paul will even talk about in Philippians 3:19 “19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their stomach and glory is in their shame, who set their thoughts on earthly things.”

But a hunger that will be satisfied is the person who is hungers for God’s will. Even Jesus stated in John 6:36 “36 “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.”

— Matthew 5:7 “7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

—Mounce “It is not a surge of emotion but intentional kindness”. THis is the person who lives by the Golden rule. They treat people how they want to be treated.

— Matthew 5:8 “8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

— This point is made more clear when you really take notice of what is to be pure. The heart. It is one thing to be holy and righteous looking on the outside but God says it is those whose heart is pure who will see Him.

— Matthew 5:9 “9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

— The peacemakers are those who are not dividing themselves over things that don’t matter. Jesus is often referred to as the Prince of Peace and so if we take on the peacemaking characteristic we become like Jesus! WE become a son of God.

— Matthew 5:10 “10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

— Why would anyone ever think that you are blessed for being persecuted. but that is what Jesus says here. When you are doing the will of God and you are being persecuted for it then you will receive an amazing reward of heaven.

The Cost

— Matthew 5:11 “11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.”

— Notice the shift in person. He leaves gerenalities and now becomes specific with his teachings.

— I wonder if it was at this moment he leaned in and stared at His disciples. Informing them of the upcoming struggles they would face being His disciples. They would be insulted, persecuted, and people would lie about them in public just becasue they were ar efollow of Jeuss.

— I would also encourage that this message has stood the test of time. Paul reiterated this message in” Philippians 1:29 “29 For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,” Peter even restated this almost word for word in 1 Peter 4:14 “14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”

— Jesus encourages these disciples with the promise he makes in Matthew 5:12 “12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

— Notice that one reason to be encouraged is they have a reward in heaven and it is a great reward. Another reason to be encouraged is that we are in good company. Even the prophets were psercetured. What a difference this mindset would have been for a people that was so focused on the outer man.

YOU

Now here’s where this gets really real for us. We’ve walked through what Jesus says a blessed life looks like, and we’ve seen what it can cost to live that kind of life.

So the question is no longer, “Do we understand this?” The question is, “Do we want this?”

Because if we’re honest, we want the blessing, but we’re not always sure we want the cost. We like the idea of being approved by God, but we’re uncomfortable with being rejected by people. So we have to ask ourselves: Are we willing to be different, even if it means being misunderstood? Are we willing to live for Christ, even if it costs us comfort? Are we willing to follow Jesus, even when it brings opposition?

At the beginning, we talked about what we usually call “blessed”—success, comfort, everything going right. But Jesus says you can be insulted, misunderstood, even persecuted, and still be blessed. That completely changes the way we see life.

So here’s the challenge: stop chasing the kind of blessing the world celebrates, and start pursuing the kind of life that God calls blessed. Because at the end of the day, I don’t want to be called blessed by the world and miss being blessed by God.

WE

I want this to sink in for us so i am going to give us some homework

I want you to take these beatitudes and use them as sentence prayers for this week.

— God help me be merciful so i can receive mercy