Beatitudes; Part 1

Worldly beatitudes

·         Blessed are the wealthy, for theirs is the kingdom of earth.

·         Blessed are those who play, for they shall be amused.

·         Blessed are the strong, for they shall rule the earth.

·         Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after meeting their own needs, for you need to look after your own needs first.

·         Blessed are the just, for they need no mercy.

·         Blessed are the pure, for they shall be seen and recognized for their good deeds.

·         Blessed are the peacekeepers, for they might win the Nobel peace prize.

·         Blessed are those who are praised for their righteousness sake, for they have worked hard and deserve it.

·         Blessed are you when people shall flatter you and praise you and shall say all manner of nice things  about you constantly. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward on earth.

These probably weren’t the beatitudes that you were expecting to hear.  But these are the beatitudes that the world teaches.  These are things that we need in order to be happy.  We are taught that money can bring happiness, that we need to look after numero uno, that we can pull ourselves up by our boot straps and it’s a sin to rely upon someone else.

Matthew 5:1-12

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up a mountainside and sat down.  His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

The only common theme between the beatitudes of the world and the beatitudes of Jesus is the fact that we are seeking to be blessed.  So what does it mean to be blessed?  Many times people try and translate “blessed” as happy.  But are we merely happy when we do these things.  It’s a little bit more.  In the Bible we see that humans can bless God and God can bless humans.  To be “blessed” means, to be approved, to find approval.

So whose blessing are we seeking?  Whose approval are we wanting?  Do we want to be approved of by God or by our colleagues?  That is the fundamental difference between the beatitudes of the world and of Jesus.  Whose blessing are you seeking?

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the poor?  That’s not something that the world would say.  Poverty is something to be avoided.  The best definition for poverty that I’ve seen is: 

Poverty is a condition in which a person or community is deprived of, or lacks the essentials for a minimum standard of well-being and life.

So how many of you would like to be poor – to lack the essentials for well-being and life?  Most of the time when we talk about poverty and being poor we are talking about being financially and materially poor.  But that’s not exactly what Jesus is talking about.  He says the poor in spirit.  Not financial destitution or material poverty.  It’s not the poverty of spiritual awareness or lacking a spirit of courage or strength.  It doesn’t mean lacking in the Holy Spirit.

So what does it mean to be poor in spirit?  D.A. Carson says that “poverty of spirit is the personal acknowledgement of spiritual bankruptcy.  It is the conscious confession of unworthy before God.  As such it is the deepest form of repentance.”  Another scholar said that “there is no one in the kingdom of God who is not poor in spirit”.

Being poor in spirit is a complete absence of pride, a complete absence of self-assurance and of self-reliance. It is a consciousness that we are nothing in the presence of God.  We don’t rely upon ourselves, our natural birth, our personality, our position in life, any power and authority that we might have, any money or wealth, the education or knowledge we have.  We don’t rely upon any of these things when we are before God.  When Isaiah saw God in a vision he exclaimed “Woe is me!...  I am a man of unclean lips.”  He realized that he wasn’t worthy to see God.

Right from the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount we see that we don’t have the spiritual resources to fulfill any of the Sermon on the Mount.  We can’t fulfill God’s standards ourselves.  We must come before Him and admit that we are spiritually bankrupt, that we have absolutely nothing to offer God.  We must empty ourselves of self-righteousness, moral esteem, and pride.  When we are empty of these things we are ready for God to fill us.

The third verse of Rock of Ages describes being poor in spirit:

Nothing in my hands I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling;

Naked, come to Thee for dress,

Helpless look to Thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly,

Wash me, Savior, or I die.

1. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

We live in a world where there is plenty of mourning to do.  We mourn over the loss of innocence, over the fighting throughout the world, over the natural disasters.  We mourn over the lost of the loved ones due to sickness and disease.  These are things that we mourn and rightfully so, but this isn’t what Jesus is talking about.

John Stott says this isn’t the sorrow of bereavement , but it is the sorrow of repentance.  It’s the sorrow we experience over our sinfulness.

There are times where we’ve been caught doing something wrong.  Perhaps it was sneaking a cookie or chocolate before supper, perhaps you’ve been caught stealing a candy bar from the gas station, or perhaps you’ve been caught speeding.  Those are times where we’ve been sorry, but much of the time we aren’t sorry for what we’ve done, but sorry that we’ve been caught.

The sorrow of repentance is the sorrow we feel over our sinfulness.  We realize the evil in our lives and we are saddened because of it.  We see the whole world in an unhappy and unhealthy condition and realize that it is due to sin and we mourn because of it.

The one who mourns over his sins and the sins of the world will be comforted because God has made forgiveness possible.  We know the joy of sins forgiven and the joy of reconciliations.  The joy that is set before us with the glory that awaits God’s followers in heaven.

1. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

To me this is one of the beatitudes that I raise my head at and go “huh?”  I’ll be honest if someone was describing me and my personality I don’t think I’d be too happy if they used the word “meek”.  It goes against the grain.

The world thinks in terms of strength and power, ability, self-assurance, and aggression.  This is what is needed to gain things – not being meek.

We tend to think of someone who is meek as someone who is weak.  They are easily taken advantage of and can be walked all over.  But is this truly what being meek is?

Another word for meek is humble.  When we humble ourselves before God and to God’s will we are meek.  This isn’t a natural quality.  Often times we have a false sense of meekness or humility.  When someone compliments and praises us for something we try and deflect it and say that it was nothing. 

In one of Garrison Keillor’s books on Lake Wobegon he writes about an angry son returned to the town intending to nail 95 complaints about his repressive parents to the door of the Lutheran church. The 34th of these accusations is that the parents made it impossible for him to accept a compliment. It is Keillor talking, no question. Someone says, "Good speech," and he mumbles, "Oh, it was way too long. I didn't know what I was talking about. I was just blathering." Actually, he confesses, "good" is not good enough. "Under this thin veneer of modesty lies a monster of greed. I drive away faint praise, beating my little chest, waiting to be named Sun God, King of America, Idol of Millions. I don't want to say 'Thanks, glad you liked it.' I want to say 'Rise, my people.'"

We can’t help but laugh at it, but part of the laughter is due to the fact that we can relate exactly to what Keillor is saying.  There is a secret desire in all of us to be praised and worshipped. 

Meekness is essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in attitude and conduct with respect towards others.  It is placing other’s need ahead of yours.  It is an attitude toward yourself and an attitude toward others.  The man who is meek isn’t always watching himself and his own interests, he doesn’t have to worry about what people think and say.  He is willing to listen and ready to be taught by the Holy Spirit and to be led by Jesus Christ.

The man who is meek will inherit the earth.  He already has it because he is content with what he has.  But there is a future sense as well.  The man who is meek will inherit the earth because he is a child of God.  1 Corinthians 6 says that the saints will judge the world.  Luke 14:11 says that he who humbles himself will be exalted.

1. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

The hunger and thirst of the world is after riches, fame, power, and eternal youth.  But it is never enough.  In the words of a famous real estate tycoon “I don’t want all the land in the world, just that which is touching mine.”  When we thirst after these things we never have enough.  There is a hunger which desires to have more.

Jesus is the living water and the bread of life which can quench our thirst and hunger.  If we hunger and thirst after the righteousness of God we will find what we are seeking for and be filled.

There is a progression in the beatitudes.  John Stott says to begin, “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, and the sins of the world.  Third we are to be ‘meek’, humble and gentle towards others, allowing our spiritual poverty to condition our behavior to them as well as to God.  And fourthly we are to ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness’.  These things lead up to a desire to know God more and to become Christ-like.  Dr. Lloyd-Jones says “to hunger and thirst is to desire to be free from self in all its horrible manifestations, in all its forms.  It means that one’s supreme desire in life is to know God and to be in fellowship with Him, to walk with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the light. 

The second half is that we’ll be filled when we hunger and thirst for righteousness.  Not because we’ve been able to attain it ourselves, but because of the Holy Spirit and His work.  Ultimately it will be fulfilled perfectly and absolutely in eternity.  The day will come when those who are in Christ will stand in the presence of God holy and pure, free from the stain of sin.

Again it might easy to go away and think that there is no way that I can live up to the beatitudes (and we’ve only gone through four of them).  But we don’t have to live up to them through our own power.  Again in the words of the Rock of Ages - Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling.  As we go to communion this morning we can remember the power and the work that Jesus did on the cross.  Christ died that we might live.