Changing Your Heart Will Change Your World 7-1-07
CHANGING YOUR HEART WILL CHANGE YOUR WORLD
Matt 5:13 You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Introduction: What ever fits and works today, ought to fit and work tomorrow. The problem with most things that don’t work in life is the fact that we often won’t work what we know. Because of that life has many more struggles than it should have. We find ourselves beating our heads against the walls of insecurity and fault finding. We conclude that others are the cause of our unhappiness or at least they could be the problem and at worst they must know what they have doing to me. The reality is no one can damage you as well as you can and no one can heal you as well as God.
Today we are going to do something a little bit different. Most times we take a short passage of Scripture and attempt to drain it dry, pull out its meaning and then make practical application to our lives. Today, we are going to look over a larger portion of Scripture and get the idea of what is being said. Before we go any further, let’s go to the 1st verse in our text, The Sermon on The Mount, the Beatitudes. This sermon is the lord’s first recorded and everything else He teaches is really working out of this sermon. Beatitudes – is a storybook formula, generally beginning with the expression “blessed is” or “happy is,” which pronounces a blessing upon or declares praise of a model individual.
Matt 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then 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 filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain 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 they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matt 5:3 (Amplified) Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous, with life, joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! 4 Blessed and enviably happy [with a happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted! 5 Blessed (happy, joyous, spiritually prosperous with life, joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth! 6 Blessed and fortunate and happy and spiritually prosperous (in that state in which the born-again child of God enjoys His favor and salvation) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God), for they shall be completely satisfied!
7 Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous, with life, joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy! 8 Blessed (happy, enviably fortunate, and spiritually prosperous, possessing the happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward conditions) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God! 9 Blessed (enjoying enviable happiness, spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the makers and maintainers of peace, for they shall be called the sons of God! 10 Blessed and happy and enviably fortunate and spiritually prosperous (in the state in which the born-again child of God enjoys and finds satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of his outward conditions) are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake (for being and doing right), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! 11 Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of your outward conditions) are you when people revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely on My account. 12 Be glad and supremely joyful, for your reward in heaven is great (strong and intense), for in this same way people persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The first part in Jesus explanation of a life lived in pursuit of Him is found in the Beatitudes. This is about our hearts before God. The first step in our relationship with Him is to realize the poverty of our spirit with out Him, mourn our condition of being lost in sin and humbly submitting our strengths to Him and remembering that meekness is not weakness. Meekness instead is strength in submission; and to make doing right a priority in our life which is on the same level with eating and drinking. We must hunger and thirst for righteousness, being merciful to others realizing the great mercy that has been given to us. We must submit the center most part of who we are, our heart to the Holy Spirit so that it can be made pure. Then we must position ourselves so we can become active agents of peace in this world even in the face of persecution.
In other words, until we lock in on this attitude (Beatitude), we will never be all that we can be as Christians.
All of these attitudes are challenging, but they are the first steps in becoming who God desires for us to be. The key is to remember that God is very concerned about us. He is far more concerned with our happiness and well being than He is with your outward actions. We think God really wants to get something out of us, but the truth is God doesn’t need us to accomplish anything. Our involvement in the work of God is a privilege. The first thing on God’s agenda is to transform our heart so that we won’t be miserable in who you are and do harm to others.
We all know people who seem to have everything together on the outside; but on the inside they are nothing more than a train wreck. God’s concern is that we be whole, before anything else is done. He wants to make sure that we are on the road to wholeness and healing first and foremost. He is our Father and He loves us.
So What Is Our Responsibility?
As we are on the road to being made whole as children of God, Jesus is quick to point out that being a child of the King has responsibilities. He says that we are the salt and the light of this world and that our righteousness should exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees.
Matt 5:20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Salt has two primary roles: purification and adding flavor. We purify the world by living moral lives. We can be contagious and if we hold ourselves to a higher standard; then those around us will see the defect in their approach to life…not because we preached, but because they know truth and goodness when they see it lived out.
We add flavor through our reliance on God and our Christ like attitude. When others see the peace that we have in our lives through our trust in God; they become thirsty for that same kind of hope and peace.
If we live our lives with the same moral standards as the rest of the world, with the same hopeless and complaining attitudes, then it is clear we have lost our saltiness.
Light shines forth into the dark and lights up a better way. If we believe that we have found a better way in Christ, then we should not be ashamed of it. This doesn’t mean we grab people by the collar and tell them, “Turn or Burn!” But it does mean that we are not ashamed to let others know where our hope lies and why we make the choices that we make, even if that means turning the other check.
The Pharisees and Scribes were concerned about the letter of the Law and appearances. We should be concerned about the spirit of the Law and the truth. We should not be looking for every little thing that we can get away with, nor should we be secretly sinning while outwardly playing the role of a Christian (hypocrites)!
Our Inner Attitudes Determines Our Outward Actions Toward Others
There are only two major groups in this overview of the Sermon on the Mount and one of the major points is that they do not come in the order that you might think they should. These two groups are “Our Inner Attitudes and Outward Actions Toward Others” and “Our Inner Attitudes and Outward Actions Toward God.” We may think that God is self serving and that His highest priority would be that we get all of our “T’s” crossed and all of our “I’s” dotted. But God’s primary concern is with how His children relate to others.
Let me put it this way, if you are hateful to the people around you then God doesn’t care how much you pray, fast or give in the offering. Let’s look at verses 21-24 of chapter 5:
Matt 5:21 You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Raca! shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, You fool! shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
So the primary point of this section is twofold: 1) all outward actions begin in the heart and that is what we need to control; and 2) you cannot please God if you neglect other people.
Jesus first example, which we read, is in conflict. Now when Jesus says in this passage, “You have heard it said…” this is a technique that the Rabbis of His time would use to address a literal interpretation of the Scripture. So it is like saying, “Well on the surface it means this, but when you really examine it then it means this.” And this is exactly what Jesus was doing, bringing the deeper and intended meaning.
Too many people want to see what they can get away with; we can talk about the Pharisees and Scribes, but if we aren’t careful, we will become the same way. Before you know it, we will see things that come right up to the line, saying things that come right up to the line, doing things that come right up to the line, getting away with as much as we can and still feeling like we are good people.
We need to stop trying to feel like a good person and BE ONE. Okay…you haven’t killed anyone, but maybe those aren’t blisters on your lips…but notches like you see on a gun. Why not try treating other people with respect and try for once at putting their needs above your own.
Stop divorcing one another just because everything is not perfect and instead realize that you made a lifelong commitment to God that you would stay married to that person for better or for worst.
We just ought to stop seeking vengeance against those who hurt us and saying to God, “he hit me first.”
Stop being greedy and thinking, “I earned this, it is mine” and instead be willing to share the blessings you’ve been blessed with.
Stop seeing enemies and instead see people that are perhaps lost and hurting. Pray for them to find their way before they are lost for eternity.
Just stop living lives that are meeting the lowest expectation on the outside and on the inside are full of sinful desires and wrong attitudes. That is not pleasing to God and you are not going to have a life of peace with a wrong attitude.
CLOSE:
Our inner attitudes and our outward actions speak of who we really are. The cover-up is over and the masks are coming off. We are living in a day when it is not wise to be a messed up or mixed-up Christian. If your attitude is wrong toward people…your attitude is most likely wrong toward God. If your attitude is right toward God…your attitude will be right toward people.
It is very difficult love God and yet hate what He loves!
Mark 12:28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29 Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. 32 So the scribe said to Him, Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. 33 And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. But after that no one dared question Him.
Love is not just a word…it is action!!!