The Disciples Character Part #1

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Week Two

A Christian’s character (5:3–12) Matthew 5:3-6

Christian’s relationship to God

Character: Bob & Hank

Narrator:

Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to be introduced to a few fictional characters as we study through Matthew Chapter 5-7 Better known as, the sermon on the mount.

It is our goal that some of you will be able to identify with these people portrayed as they wrestle with the material covered each Sunday.

Narrator:

Last week we met Hank, A busy businessman who has little time to read, but has found time to listen to audio books and has recently downloaded the Audio Book

“Living the life of the Sermon on the Mount in Modern Times”, How to discover your purpose as a disciple of Christ.

We find Hank once again at the local coffee shop, Celestial Beans. Today he was some extra time and he thought he would sit this time and enjoy the coffee while listening to his audio book.

As he sat down, he noticed the book was still at the table.

<Bob enters Orders coffee, then sits down beside Hank>

<The Dialogue is slow between the two as Bob keeps interrupting Hank as he listens to the audio book. Each time, Hank keep unplugging and plugging in his earphones>

Bob: (interrupting Hanks listening and asks him question)

Hey, do you mind If I sit at the table with you. It seems quite busy today.

Hank: (Unplugging his earphones)

Sure,

(replaces his headphones and continues to listen)

Bob: (is looking around at the different people then begins to interrupt Hank)

What are you listening to?

Hank: (Unplugging his earphones)

It’s an audio book called, “Living the life of the Sermon on the Mount in Modern Times”, How to discover your purpose as a disciple of Christ.

(replaces his headphones and continues to listen)

Bob: (interrupting Hank) Is it any good?

Hank: (Unplugging his earphones)

Yes!

(replaces his headphones and continues to listen)

Bob: (interrupting Hank)

What is it about?

Hank: (Unplugging his earphones)

Learning to be a disciple of Christ and a Shining light to those around you.

(replaces his headphones and continues to listen)

Bob: (Muttering under his breath, Keep listening because your lights pretty dim.

Hank: (Unplugging his earphones)

What was that?

Bob: Nothing, this coffee if filled to the rim

Hank: I have just made my way through the intro and heard that the Sermon on the Mount is about God’s Kingdom and how disciples of Christ should be like.

It’s authentic, relevant, and practical. You should read it, here it. I’ve got to run.

(hands book to Bob replaces his earphones and leaves the coffee Shop)

Bob: (Looking at the book)

“Living the life of the Sermon on the Mount in Modern Times”, How to discover your purpose as a disciple of Christ.

Maybe I will read this book, my wife is always telling me to read more, I should surprise her and read this book.

Let’s see, he told me about the intro, so let me jump to chapter one

“The Disciples Character Part 1”

Hum, it starts with scripture:

Leaves the coffee shop and continues to reads the passage for this morning

Matthew 5:3-6

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 satisfied.

Introduction

Hank an Bob. Two different people, yet this series is for them. If you were not here last week and missed the introduction for this series, may I encourage you to take some time this week and listen to the audio file with slides found on our website. May I also encourage you if you are away for some of the series to continue to be caught up by taking a half hour the week following to listen to the progression of the sermon series.

We, unless there is a technical issue, generally have the message up on the church’s website by Tuesday afternoon. I am aiming to make the sermon’s stand alone each week, but to be honest they are all tied together. The time of giving this

Authentic, realistic and practical sermon to the disciples and the people Jesus did it in one sitting; therefore it would be good for you to keep the flow together. In the least, you will have a chance to see the story unfold between the various characters introduced throughout the weeks.

With that, Let’s pray

Scripture Passage

Turn with me if you would to the passage we are going to look at this moring

Matthew 5:3–6 ESV

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 satisfied.

The Disciple’s Character: Who is the disciple?

We have been working through our definition of a disciple:

He or she is one who...

is seeking to know God while being transformed into the image of Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit in the context of community.

with last week we discovered that Jesus taught, walked, showed what His Kingdom is and will be in the context of community. Now in the midst of the people with his disciples around him he begins with outlining what the disciple’s character should look like.

Where are you in the journey of seeking to know God?

Are you sitting here this morning for the first time hearing that there is a God who desires to be in a relationship with his creation. He desired so much that he took on the form of his creation, mankind and came to this world to walk and talk with us.

Jesus is God

He came to invite people into his Kingdom through accepting Christ’s work on the cross for our forgiveness of our sins. If your journey with God, seeking God, has not come to the point of giving your life to Him, may I encourage you to do so. If your not ready, listen to the words found in these passages as Christ calls to his followers, his disciples to hear his voice.

Maybe you are sitting here this morning, you have made a decision to follow God many years ago, but you feel there must be more. You want to be freshened as to what a disciple life should look like, feel like.

These words are for you.

It may be that you are a follower of Christ, A life long disciple, seeking to know God and are being transformed daily into the image of Christ, you have been and continue to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, may these words continue to strengthen your faith.

When Jesus spoke these words, to the people,

there were the different types of people in the crowd. Some willing to follow, some coming to hear what is being said, some being dragged alone, some skeptics.

Then there were his newly appointed disciples, and now there are us.

The disciples character part one is about the first four beatitudes.

I use to read these as four different types of people.

A list of skills and approaches to life.

I have heard several sermons on each individual beatitude, but for this mourning, we are going to look at the first four together.

Together is the key.

These listings are not a list of different people, rather they are a list of what our character should look like as a disciple of Christ.

Dallas Willard put it this way.

The beatitudes of Jesus drive home his answers to this very question. They are among the literary and religious treasures of the human race. along with the

10 commandments, the 23rd Psalm, the Lord’s prayer , and a very few other passages from the Bible, they are acknowledged by almost everyone to be among the highest expression of religious insight and moral inspiration . we can savor them, affirmed them, meditate upon them, and engrave them on plaques to hang on our walls. but a major question remains: how are we to live in response to them? [1]

[1] Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy. P 98

Did you catch that, How are we to live in response to them.

A few years ago I did an experiment with people.

I placed a board 8 feet long, 8 inches wide on the ground and asked people if they would be able to walk along the board.

Many said yes.

I pushed them a little harder and asked them to actually do it.

Many did “walk the plank” as I called it.

Then I raised the plank between to tables and asked them again to walk the plank.

After all, it was still the same plank.

What do you think was the response from the people?

If you guess some did and some didn’t you would be right.

I then told you few who walked if I were able to raise the plank up 20, 30, 50, feet would they still continue to walk the plank.

After all, it was still the same plank.

If you’re like me, we would all say, no way.

After all, it isn’t the same plank, it’s high up above,

Ah, but it is the same plank, it’s our perspective has changed.

We have taken our eyes off of the plank, and focused on the surroundings.

These four beatitudes are putting our focus on Us and our character to God.

It’s our relationship with Him.

Next week we will look at our character as it relates to others but this week is about us.

We need to walk the plank that God describes as what our character should look like and not focus on the others around us. Because like the Plank, God is unchanging.

Let’s walk the plank. God’s description of what the plank should look like.

In my reading this week, I came across and interesting description of a Disciple.

Four types in fact

I wonder what one you fit into.

Which can you identify as we talk about the disciple’s character.

quick to grasp, quick to forget-

This person understand what is being said, but has not internalized the truth in his or her own life.

The result is that they

Loses what they gained

Quick to grasp, quick to forget- Loses what they gained.

Slow to grasp, slow to forget

“how many times do I have to tell you” is the phrase you would often here to this type of disciple, the plus side is that once it gets in there, it stays.

What they lose (Time) they gain

1. Quick to grasp, quick to forget- Loses what they gained.

2. Slow to grasp, slow to forget- what they loses they gain

3. Quick to Grasp, slow to forget

Easy: they describe this a wise person a sage. One to seek out.

so to review....... for those of us who are quick to forget.....

1. Quick to grasp, quick to forget- Loses what they gained.

2. Slow to grasp, slow to forget- what they loses they gain

3. Quick to Grasp, slow to forget- sage

The last one if you have figured out the pattern, it cracked me up

4. slow to grasp, quick to forget

the writer simple put- a bad lot indeed.

As we go through this passage this morning, I hope that you are the type of disciple that would be able to say, Quick to grasp, slow to forget.

Reward vs Blessing

All of these beatitudes start with blessed are those....

Some have miss interpreted these character assesments as a reward vs a blessing.

A reward is something you receive for an action.

You find something lost, the owner can give you a reward,

You work hard at a job and you are rewarded with a raise.

Rewards are a direct result of something you can do.

To read these as things that you can do to receive something is wrong.

namely, it has been stated,

“But such a way of reading the beatitudes also gives various other kinds of people automatic access to the Kingdom of heaven in terms nicely suited to them - especially if they have a distant God and not a present King. “[1]

[1] Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy P 103

If you read these statements are things you are to do to receive, its a wrong view of blessing.

Some have translated this passage as Happy are those....

They are not statement that make you happy.

Happiness is a state of mind or a feeling. They are not results based but perspectives on a situation

Let me put it to you this way

There’s an old Oriental parable that puts it this way:

A young man asked his father for a horse.  All of his friends had horses.  He wanted one, too.  But his father said no.  Feeling dejected, he went for a walk out in the woods.  Lo and behold, a beautiful mare appeared out of nowhere.  It was strong and gentle and easy to ride.  He rode it back to the village and told his father, “Look father!  This horse came to me.  What a blessing!”  The father replied, “You never know; it could be a curse.”  Sure enough, the boy was riding his new horse with his friends when the horse shied and threw him to the ground, breaking his leg.  The friends carried him back to the village, and he told his father, “You were right; it was a curse, after all.”  The father replied, “You never know; it could be a blessing.”  Sure enough, a neighboring tribe declared war on his village.  Every able-bodied man was expected to fight.  But because he had a broken leg, the boy was exempt.  He told his father, “You were right; it was a blessing.”  The father said, “You never know; it could be a curse.”

What is a blessing?  It all depends on whether you to look to God or to the circumstances of the moment. 

Apart from God,

what appears to be a blessing can be your undoing, and what appears to be misfortune can be a blessing in disguise.

-https://sermonwriter.com/sermons/matthew-51-12-are-you-blessed-mclarty/

Blessing are what is given by God and God alone.

Before we dive into the 4 for this morning, there is one more thing I want you to be aware of

Jesus Teaching was different than the way in which we teach today.

Today we teach and learn to retain information. You may have come here this morning to learn something new, or something different, but the teaching of Jesus’ day was not the way in which the western world teaches.

Think of it this way

“We must recognize, first of all, that the aim of the popular teacher in Jesus’s time was not impart information , but to make a significant change in the lives of the hearers. “[1]

[1] Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy p 112

Sermon on the Mount A New Kind of Evangelism

it is a compelling presentation of Jesus and his moral vision. Pushed to the next level, what this means is that reading or teaching or preaching the Sermon on the Mount is evangelism.

As I was writing and thinking about this style of teaching, I heard an ambulance come racing down the street.

What do you do when an ambulance comes down the street blaring its siren, what should be our first response, to pull over.

Jesus taught in a way that got the attention of the people

to listen

and to change their behaviour.

So, Stop driving down the street when God’s siren is coming down the road. Pull over, change your plan, your action, head to Christ’s warning.

The gathering of the blessed should be like that of a waiting room, those who see their need for doctor, no matter what state they find themselves in they can come to the saviour who will usher them into the kingdom with grace and mercy.

The four Characteristics of the Disciple

Poor in Spirit

The first is the poor in spirit.

I have often heard the phrase, they are good people. Good doesn’t count it. We need to come to God recognizing that without Him, we have nothing

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 1. The Poor in Spirit (3)

Thus, to be ‘poor in spirit’ is to acknowledge our spiritual poverty, indeed our spiritual bankruptcy, before God. For we are sinners, under the holy wrath of God, and deserving nothing but the judgment of God. We have nothing to offer, nothing to plead, nothing with which to buy the favour of heaven.

We come to God empty. We come to God with nothing to offer, nothing to trade.

We can’t come and say, God if you do this....fill in the blank… they I will follow you.

God, if what you really say is true, then I must see this.

We come to God empty. We come to God with nothing to offer, nothing to trade.need to come to him empty handed.

“Those poor in spirit are called “blessed” by Jesus, not because they are meritorious condition, but because, precisely in spite of and in the midst of their ever so deplorable condition, the rule of heavens has moved redemptively upon and through them by the grace of Christ. “[1]

[1]Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy P102

They walk away blessed to be a part of the kingdom of God.

The God of creation waits for us to empty all that we can do and it is at that moment when we approach him empty handed he fills us with eternal life.

Life in the Kingdom of God

Those who Mourn

Mourning. The act of acknowledging a loss.

Many people have looked to this passage and grasp it for a comfort of God’s peace and presence in their time of Great loss.

Don’t get me wrong, God is a God of comfort, but Christ’s description of mourning in this passage is not about a personal loss, but a spiritual loss.

Mourning, It’s a loss of relationship with God.

A loss of right standing before God

As Stott put it,

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. Those Who Mourn (4)

It is not the sorrow of bereavement to which Christ refers, but the sorrow of repentance

Mourning requires a daily repentance of you sins.

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

These are words of comfort

The Meek

Blessed are the meek. Those who understand their relationship with God. It is an acknowledgement that they need God.

They are teachable. Open to God’s training for their lives.

It’s far from the attitude of weakness, but a submission to God.

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 24: Matthew The Disciples’ Joy: The Beatitudes

Meekness is not weakness; rather it is the gentle spirit, the disciplined or controlled spirit.

The Thirsty

This is the final description is that of the thirsty for righteousness

Thirsting for righteousness is like drinking salt water. The more you drink the more your body will demand.

Righteousness in the bible can be summed up in three different aspects. Legal, moral, and social.

Legal Righteousness

It is our standing with God. God is the judge and sets the standard by which we are saved. It is nothing which we can do. To pursue righteousness is attempting to obtain it by our own standards and can look very much like the pharisee.

Moral Righteousness

This is our character and conduct that pleases God.

It is not that we do it to gain God’s blessing, rather we do it out of love.

It is like a child who is imitating their parent. The imitation is not out of winning approval of love, rather its the love of that parent that drives the child to imitate.

To have good conduct and character only to please God leads to the view of God as an unloving God that is quick to turn away his love.

Moral righteousness is drawn out of love for God. Our character and conduct is love and an act of imitating the one we love not seeking approval.

Social Righteousness

The final part of righteousness in in the context of community. As disciples we also need to see the righteousness of the community. The scriptures talk of setting the captives free. We should be searching for ways to be of influence in the community to bring about God’s righteousness to all.

In Closing

Our inward character can be summed up in this way.

Opening Up Matthew Portrait of Blessedness (5:2–16)

This is what God says about them. It is to those who have nothing in themselves that God gives the kingdom of heaven, the comfort of heaven, the earth as their inheritance, the satisfaction of his provision, the mercy and vision of God, the right to be called his sons and the greatest of all rewards: a place in his kingdom.

Opening Up Matthew Portrait of Blessedness (5:2–16)

For Jesus, obedience grows out of blessedness; the statement of our condition precedes the demands of our discipleship.

in summary, each of the first four beatitudes are a progression, building upon each other.

As John Stott so clearly states,

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 4. Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness (6)

To begin with, we are to be ‘poor in spirit’, acknowledging our complete and utter spiritual bankruptcy before God. Next we are to ‘mourn’ over the cause of it, our sins, yes, and our sin too—the corruption of our fallen nature, and the reign of sin and death in the world. Thirdly, we are to be ‘meek’, humble and gentle towards others, allowing our spiritual poverty (admitted and bewailed) to condition our behaviour to them as well as to God. And fourthly we are to ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness’. For what is the use of confessing and lamenting our sin, of acknowledging the truth about ourselves to both God and men, if we leave it there? Confession of sin must lead to hunger for righteousness.

As the worship team comes forward, where are you on you journey. Have you seen from these words from Jesus any need to change? May I challenge you not to look around, but to look within. Are you a disciple that is poor in spirit, morning for the sin, teachable, with an unquenchable thirst to love God more.

As we sing Build your Kingdom, may we be described as people living out these words.