Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

Last week we looked at passages from James and John as we continued this conversation of Freedom.

It is important that we understand what it means to live in freedom because our call as a church it to join God to set people free.

As we have discussed, we can’t lead people to a place we can’t be.

Last week we thought about three things.

It was Stand Sunday, a day set aside for us to pray specifically for orphans in our area.

The message revolved around our call to set people free and that orphans are included in that group.

Standing for Freedom is the result of who we are in Christ.

It’s not something we just simply decide to give away one day.

Our daily walk with God is what causes us to stand for freedom.

We were reminded last week that it is the call of all believers, not just some, to stand for orphans.

They are trapped in the world in which they find themselves.

No matter how they ended up there, it was traumatic.

God is clear in his word that it is the responsibility of the church to care for orphans.

I asked each of us to make a commitment to at least pray for one of the 18 children that are available for adoption in Alexandria.

My hope is that as you are praying for that child, the Lord shows you ways that you can support orphan care.

We talked about all the different ways that you can do that.

Lastly, we discussed that being like Christ means we drink from the same cup that he did.

In our call to stand for freedom, we will encounter suffering.

It may be our own or we may need to walk with someone else in suffering.

We are called to lean into that suffering, not shy away from it.

there are people all around us that are suffering and we have the hope that they desperately need.

We cannot ignore them.

Sometimes we need to walk right into the awkward moments and live life with people, right where they are.

That is how Jesus lived life.

He met people, in the middle of their sin, and that love changed their lives forever.

God provides that same opportunity for us to love people.

That may be a friend, co-worker, neighbor, or a orphan or foster child.

At the end of the day, we need to recognize that standing for freedom is who we are as followers of Christ.

We know the truth of that because that is what Jesus was about and if we are abiding in Him, that is what we will be about.

Today we are going further our understanding what freedom is and what it means to live in freedom.

We are going to study the sermon on the mount, specifically the beatitudes, and allow God to give us new insight into what He was teaching.

For the next week or so we are going to stay in this theme and then make the transition into advent.

Hang with me for just a moment as I go into information mode.

Before we read this passage, there are a few things we need to understand about the beatitudes.

These things will allow us to better understand what Jesus was teaching.

Firstly, the beatitudes are proclamations of where we are, not where we are going.

For the people that Jesus was teaching, and for us, we hear these ideas and assume that Jesus is talking about something that is to come.

We think that way, because of our past and current experiences.

Nearly all of our current translations include the verb “are” in these statements.

That has been done because our language requires that there is a verb in every sentence.

That verb is not in the original language and it changes the way we understand them.

Jesus isn’t saying you will be blessed IF you do these things or exhibit these qualities.

He is saying that those qualities exist in the kingdom, of which we are a part of as believers.

Our involvement in the kingdom brings about those qualities.

We are blessed to be a part of the kingdom not because of a quality that we exhibit.

The beatitudes are not simple statements; they are exclamations: ‘O the blessedness of the poor in spirit!’

That is most important, for it means that the beatitudes are not pious hopes of what shall be; they are not glowing, but vague prophecies of some future bliss; they are congratulations on what is.

The blessedness which belongs to Christians is not a blessedness which is postponed to some future world of glory; it is a blessedness which exists here and now.

It is not something into which Christians will enter; it is something into which they have entered.

Secondly, they describe a condition that cannot be affected by our current circumstances.

If these things are a part of the kingdom, our earthly circumstances cannot affect them.

Jesus is defining for the people, the qualities of kingdom life.

He wasn’t adding to the law or the checklist of life

Jesus is showing us that, if we are abiding, this is what our life will be like.

In addition to that, our American understanding of what it means to be blessed is not what Jesus was describing.

The word blessed which is used in each of the beatitudes is a very special word.

It is the Greek word makarios.

Makarios is the word which specially describes the gods.

In Christianity, there is a godlike joy.

The best definition of this word is found in one particular usage that was used to describe a Greek deity and the island that she inhabited.

It was so lovely, rich, and fertile that there was never any reason to go beyond the coastline in order to find the perfect life.

The greenery, climate, fruits, etc made it so that it was the perfect place.

Makarios, then, describes that joy which has its secret within itself, that joy which is serene and untouchable, and self-contained, that joy which is completely independent of all the chances and the changes of life.

The English word happiness gives its own case away.

It contains the root hap, which means chance.

Human happiness is something which is dependent on the chances and the changes of life, something which life may give and which life may also destroy.

The Christian blessedness is completely untouchable and unassailable.

‘No one’, said Jesus, ‘will take your joy from you’ (John 16:22).

The beatitudes speak of that joy which seeks us through our pain, that joy which sorrow and loss, and pain and grief, are powerless to touch, that joy which shines through tears, and which nothing in life or death can take away.

I don’t know how you are receiving that, but that is incredible to me.

Jesus is not teaching about a life that can be.

He is proclaiming a life that is made possible because of who God is.

We experience this Joy because of God and not our circumstances.

There is a profound distinction that is being made between the world’s understanding of happiness and the joy that is found in the Lord.

They are not the same.

Happiness is temporary.

We know this to be true.

Yesterday we had a big brunch, some awesome conversation, great coffee.

Life was good and we were enjoying it.

Then the kids told me the dog, who had been outside for at least an hour, pooped on the back porch as soon as he came in.

All the happiness went away.

I know this is kind of a silly example, but isn’t it true of so many other things in life?

We can be walking through life, happy as can be, and one thing can shut it all down.

Joy is different.

Joy is forever.

While we may go through hard times, joy can never be taken away.

I have found incredible joy in my occupation.

That doesn’t mean that there are days when it is hard.

Friday was an incredible stressful day and it didn’t feel joyful.

However, deep down I fully understood that the stress of that day would soon be over.

I knew that my job wasn’t going always feel like that.

There was this underlying truth that I knew and it allowed me to keep proper perspective on my day.

That truth is that God gave me that job.

That truth is the foundation of my joy, not my current situation

That is the power that Joy has and this is what Jesus is describing.

You may be asking what this has to do with Freedom.

Here is the tie in.

Israel was being freed from slavery in Egypt.

They experienced their freedom through deliverance.