Sermon on the Mount: Blessed Are...Really??

Let us pray…Gracious and loving God, as we listen this morning, we ask that you would open our hearts, our minds, and our spirits for the words that we each need this day to lift us up, to lighten our loads, and most importantly, to carry us throughout this coming week, Amen.

As we begin this morning, I want to share a story that I think speaks a lot about what it means to be blessed...

A Story About Being Blessed...

There’s a wonderful little legend about a man who was lost and wandering in the desert, dying of thirst. As he wandered in that terribly hot desert, he stumbled upon a ramshackle, dilapidated shack. There wasn’t much to it, but, at least, it would provide a little bit of shade and respite for him. So he stumbled into that shack and was enjoying the shade for a moment. He was looking around when he noticed about fifteen feet away from him a rickety, rusty old pump. His eyes brightened, and he thought, "I wonder." He staggered over to the pump and grabbed hold of the handle. He began to work that pump up and down, but nothing came out. He fell back to the ground, and as he fell, his hand landed on something. He looked over and saw it was an old jug covered with dirt and filth. He took the jug, and it felt like there was something in it ... sand, for all he knew. He began to wipe off what appeared to be a label or a note. He brushed away the dirt and began to make it out. It said: "You have to prime the pump with all the water in the jug. P.S. Be sure to fill the jug again before you leave."

Wow! Suddenly, he was faced with this life-or-death decision. I mean, here’s the sure thing. Here’s a jug with some water. At least, if he drank that, he could live a little while longer. But if, indeed, it was true, he would have access to flowing, fresh, cool water ... as much as he could possibly want. He pondered that decision for a few moments. Could he really trust that set of instructions that was no telling how old? He decided to go for it. He popped the cork. Sure enough, it was almost full of water. He walked over to the pump, poured it all into the pump, and grabbed hold of the handle. He began to work that pump again ... squeak, squeak, squeak. Nothing came out. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Suddenly, there appeared a trickle of water. Squeak, squeak, squeak. It grew into a larger stream of water. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Suddenly, it was gushing all the cool, flowing, wonderful water he could possibly want.

He filled the jug and drank it. He filled it and drank it again. He was marvelously refreshed. Then he remembered the note. He filled the jug again, put the cork back in place, and added his own little note to it: "Believe me, it really works. You have to give it all away to get it back." Talk about a true blessing in the midst of wandering in the desert, but isn’t that often how God works in our lives? We are deep in the depths of despair and something happens and we cannot explain how or why we might have received such a blessing in our lives…that is if we focus on the positive rather than the negative of our situation. Let me just say this before we start digging into this passage from Matthew for this morning…it is really easy for us to get caught up in the negative aspects of our lives and forget to look at the positive and for some of us, we are just glasses half-empty kind of people. However, I don’t think that God truly wants us to be that way but rather someone who looks for the ways that God touches our lives, with me so far? You see, when we look at the Beatitudes, the words that Jesus speaks here can be seen from the negative or the positive and I want to challenge us to truly see them as blessings rather than absolute worst things that could happen to us...

With that being said, let us spend just a moment placing ourselves on the shores of the Sea of Galilee...

The shores of the Sea of Galilee...

This was a photo I took from the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. As you can see, there is a gigantic rock in the lower left of the picture. It is believed, that according to Matthew, this might be where Jesus sat to teach his first teaching, his Christianity 101, if you will. If you can make it out, take a moment to breathe in the salty sea air. Take a moment to sit there amid the throng of people who have gathered to here this man of Galilee as he speaks. You are surrounded by hundreds of people who are intently watching and waiting for some words of wisdom. When Jesus begins to speak, the din of discussions ceases and a crushing hush settles over the people around you. What does this man of Galilee have to say to us? Well, essentially, he tells us that we must become the lowest and most humble in order to receive God’s blessings…now, I don’t know about you but that does not really sound like a blessing to me? I mean really, isn’t it better to be the wealthiest, happiest, proud, fulfilled person in the room?

The answer to that question is, unequivocally, and resoundingly, NO!! I can imagine that the minute Jesus begins this sermon that people start grumbling and maybe even trying to defend who they are or what they do. Isn’t that human nature? We want things our way and don’t want to be told when we are doing things incorrectly…but here’s the thing, I truly believe that this piece of Jesus’ teachings is way more important than anything else we ever say or do…

The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount

Look, it is really hard to follow this teaching, but if we are able to, I think there are so many things this world could not hold over our heads. These words are sometimes hard to hear but even harder to follow but I also don’t think we really have a choice. I really would like to have touched on each of the beatitudes this morning so that we have a tiny glimpse of what it is that God has in store for us if we can truly follow the words of wisdom in this teaching, however we don’t have all the time necessary to pull them apart and look at what Jesus might have meant. So we are going to look at just a few, starting with the first beatitude. Here’s what Jesus says about who we are supposed to be in this world...

Matthew 5:3 The Message

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

Now, when Jesus was speaking, this was just the first time he mentions that we are to be poor of spirit as some translations have it. I have given you the Message version of the translation as it sheds this piece of the Beatitudes in a different light. For me, the phrase that holds the key to what Jesus was trying to teach is “when you are at the end of your rope”. You see, we need to be the kind of person who seeks God out daily and not only just seeks God out but is willing to give completely ourselves over to God completely but also to give ourselves over wholeheartedly to the work that God has in store for us. So, it kind of makes sense that if we are willing to give all of ourselves to God, then we can be blessed with more of God in our hearts. With more of God in our hearts, then we can be a blessing to others because they will see what it means to truly have God in your hearts. When we get out of our own way and let God shine through us, there is more room for God to inhabit us…with me?

He then goes on to say something about how we are to look at ourselves too...

Matthew 5:5 The Message

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

For a lot of this, this particular Beatitude is the hardest to digest. I know for me, for the vast majority of my life, I have felt unworthy. But Jesus is trying to remind us that God made us the way we are. And that is really good news! When we can see ourselves as God sees us, wonderfully and beautifully made, we can begin to become content with you we are. The heart of what I think Jesus is trying to say is this…no matter who you are, you are loved. You are loved by parents, teachers, grandparents, friends, and so forth. When you get that deep in your hearts, you don’t need anything else. Now, I don’t think Jesus is trying to say that we need to give up everything in our lives but rather that there is nothing that needs to be changed about us. In realizing that we have all that we need, we allow ourselves to be more filled with God’s love to share. What this means is that no one can take away who we are or what we are and because of that, there is nothing to lose. Make sense?

I want to finish this morning with one last one...

Matthew 5:10–12 The Message

“You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom. “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

This may be the hardest for us to digest…is this is really where my sermon title for this morning comes from…Jesus actually says, when we face difficulties and people try to hold us down or back, consider yourself blessed. I don’t know about you folks, but in the midst of that kind of strife, I have never felt like I was blessed by any stretch of the imagination. But here’s the thing that I think Jesus was trying to give us in this Christianity 101 course...

When people rise up against us, whether that be a bully at school, work, church or just someone who plain old treats us meanly, we should look at those trials as opportunities to allow God to work through us. I mean, if you think about it, it typically means that something you have said or done has struck a nerve with that person. And honestly, when they rise up against you, they are truly trying to deflect whatever truth you have said and turn the tide to be against you. You can consider yourself lucky if you are able to see those kinds of things and point them out about another. There are many in this world who do not feel like they have strength or power to defend themselves let alone be able to point out a truth about someone else’s life. But there is something deeper to this…if you are able to stand and face the intimidating behavior of another, then that means you have allowed God to have just a little bit more of yourself.

Standing up for what is right and just...

For me the culmination of these blessings comes down to two things…allowing God to inhabit your heart and secondly, Jesus’ entire Gospel message comes down to fighting against oppression and torment in this world. When God fully inhabits our hearts, we can stand strong and firm and know that there is absolutely nothing that anyone can take away from us. All that we need is already within us, if we just allow ourselves to be used by God rather than the world, Amen.