Sermon on the Mount study #2

The Kingdom and the Beatitudes

Matthew Podcast 5

· The Beatitudes-Blessed or Blessings (9) To be relationally right with God and to experience God’s favor, to have our satisfaction and joy in and from the Lord, to be empowered to live the abundant life.

· Who is Jesus talking to? The crowds

· On what occasion or setting? The context

· This is what Jesus would talk about on a regular basis, the kingdom.

· Chapter 5 is after 4, 4:17 repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

· Repent, turn around, move from kingdom of world to kingdom of heaven.

· This is the fulfillment of promise, the king would come one day.

· After announcing the kingdom is near, He said “follow me” to 4 fishermen

· They leave in order to follow, when you follow you can’t stay the same.

· Now “crowds” of sick, hurt, invalids, possessed, the outcasts of society, poor, unimportant, nobody’s in society’s eyes. They follow Him too.

· He sits on a mountain, and His followers and learners come to Him, not 12.

· Surprise and change of perception

· Nobody cares what these people think, they hear the blessings

· “Blessed” – rabbi’s spoke like this and taught like this.

· , blessed is the man who doesn’t do this but does this

· , example model, you want to attain to, but also blessed by God, relational clarity, you’re doing it right and experiencing the benefits.

· Contrast in thought on what blessing looks like, dead sea scrolls other rabbi’s

· Rabbi ben Sira, blessed is the mighty, the important, the one’s people listen to

· God is with you and for you when you win, rise to power, people serve you etc. so worldly

· Jesus’ blessings are not what they expect, He affirms their lowly socio-economic state

· These blessings are not what we are to strive to and attain, but rather descriptions of the people in the kingdom and who Jesus first brought the kingdom to. The Great Surprise, no honor in world, but God honored bc first to hear of kingdom.

· Mosaic stained glass window

· Poor in Spirit—clearly poor people are the crowd. Is this just their economic state or is it their spiritual state? These are not religious leaders, bc of poor.

· Nobody admires or looks to because they are poor and not considered worthy, their poverty confirms this in their minds.

· The lowly are the most ready to receive help, those with less to lose more likely to follow Jesus.

· Next three are linked, mourn, meek, hunger and thirst. Mourn over what? Meek?

· Hunger and thirst for righteousness, hunger and thirst, not fun, unpleasant, don’t choose this, it happens to you, and creates a longing. God is with and for those who have a longing for righteousness, in O.T. righteousness simply is about right relationship between God and people. “Somebody did right” Faithful, doing what we are supposed to do bc of the relationship

· Righteous also a legal term, not guilty but really someone who’s done right.

· God is righteous, He always does right

· Blessed are people who have a deep longing for right living in the world because it doesn’t exist, aware that the world is not how it should be. Pain suffering, brokenness in relationships,

· Mourn-so bothered by tragedy and evil, brokenness, not overwhelmed and medicated, but aware and grieving over it. Desperate for the right, waiting

· Meek—power under control, unimportant in your mind, Moses, society has convinced these people that they are unimportant, they have power, but it’s self controlled and society suppressed. They have no power, nobody cares

· Merciful—act of care and compassion to help someone who’s hurting. God is merciful, His followers should be merciful

· Pure in heart—prestige and being admired is not what they care about, they want to see and know God, they live right by God and others

· Peace- makers—insert themselves to resolve and reconcile conflict between parties, people to people and people to God. ()

· These are progressive, if the above then these will follow. Persecution will come. These are counter culture, counter to this world’s standards and system.

· These are internal first and then become external, once entrance into the kingdom these should grow within us.

· These are a challenge if we are not the lowly and disadvantaged

· These 9 blessings are a picture of Jesus