S.o.t.Mount: THE BEATITUDES: Poor in Spirit, those who Mourn and the Meek
Notes
Transcript
INTRO/WELCOME: (any announcements/ encouragements) (Maybe start with a song)
(Announce Discipleship group opportunities…)
How was blitz week? Did you enjoy yourselves? Let’s take a second to recognize and thank our interns for all the hard work they put into that and this semester. There is so many other ways for you to grow spiritually this semester and things we are doing. Men’s study, Women’s study, prayer groups, this Saturday for the rookies (freshmen and transfers) we have a time prepared specifically for you.
In case you haven’t been here in the past two weeks we are studying the Sermon on the Mount so we will be in Matthew 5 tonight! (Specifically tonight; the Beatitudes)
The Sermon on the Mount contains so many amazing teachings.
Q: FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO KNOW IT WELL, WHAT ARE SOME OF TOPICS JESUS COVERS IN THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT?
There are so many subject such as; love, giving, real religion, evangelism, prayer, how not to worry but the overall background principle that’s in these teaching is “righteousness that comes from the inside out,” in contrast to the teaching of the religious leaders who emphasized righteousness from outward acts. TRUE DISCIPLESHIP!
IN OTHER WORD REAL RIGHTEOUSNESS NOT THE FAUX SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN JESUS’ DAY.
TO ILLUSTRATE THIS LET’S LOOK AT WHAT JESUS SAID ABOUT THIS IN MATTHEW 23.
(Jesus told them to clean the inside of the cup then the outside would be clean, Mt 23:26.)
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.
How many of you have ever had one of those experiences at a restaurant that made you never want to go back? Usually it is because of something that was in your food that was not supposed to be there. (My most recent one was from a certain Tai restaurant. I got the chicken and rice and it look and smelled great but about three quarters of the way through I saw something shiny. It was one of those metal wires from the scrubbers they use to clean the grills. I kind of lost my appetite.)
It doesn’t matter how nice the packaging looks or the advertisement, if there is something gross on the inside we do not want it. Sometimes we do not know what is in it, otherwise we would not eat it.
How many of you have are germaphobes like me and look inside mugs or cups before you pour drink into them or habitually check the date on food to make sure what’s inside has not gone bad?
Jesus knew what was in man (John 2:25) and he knew what was in the religious leaders despite how good they tried to make themselves look on the inside.
WE ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES IN HISTORY WHO WALK AROUND ALL DAY WITH MASKS ON. SOME OF US MAY BE WALKING AROUND WITH TWO MASKS ON, THE PHYSICAL ONE WE ARE FORCED TO WEAR AND THE HYPOCRITICAL ONE WE CHOOSE TO WEAR TO SAVE FACE.
WHETHER WE WEAR A MASK OR NOT God knows what is in our hearts whether they are clean or dirty no matter what actions we take on the outwardly. Jesus cuts straight to the heart of the commands to the intent behind them.
This is an important concept that lines up with the undercurrent of everything Jesus is teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. It is righteousness on the inside (in the heart) that results in righteousness on the outside (in our actions.)
Q: DO WE NEED THIS MESSAGE TODAY? IF YES, WHY?
Yes! It is easy to and we can make the same mistake today of thinking that if I check off certain religious activities like, going to worship, bible class, praying and not doing certain things wrong then God is good with that
Or we can go to the opposite extreme and live like everyone else but use grace as a license to sin instead of a reason not to sin. WE NEED TO HAVE OUR HEARTS LINED US WITH OUR LIVES SO THAT OUR LOVE FOR CHRIST ON THE INSIDE FLOWS TO LIVING FOR HIM ON THE OUTSIDE. (trans: ok, now let’s get to the text…let’s look at 5:1
Alright, Imma sit down for a minute…read Matthew 5:1
JESUS GO UP ON THE MOUNTAIN, SITS DOWN AND TEACHES HIS DISCIPLES
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
So Jesus went up and sat down to teach. HE SAT DOWN not because he was tired from climbing the hill. This is weird for us because public speaking/teaching is always from a standing position. Teachers in Jesus day however sat down to teach. (This is just smart when teaching for a long time.)
Q: WHY DID JESUS GO UP ON THE MOUNTAIN WHEN SEEING THE CROWDS?
Jesus did not have any of the luxuries microphones and equipment, so this was great for teaching. Everyone could see him and the sound likely traveled better. (But also likely to get away from the noise and commotion.
THE LAST PART OF VERSE ONE SAYS, “HIS DISCIPLES CAME TO HIM.” There might have been others there of the crowd it just mentions His disciples coming. This is important going into verse 2..
Stop right here for a second...there was a crowd and so Jesus went up the mountain and sat down and his disciples followed. Adam and Matthew talked about disciples...
Q: WHAT IS A DISCIPLE?
The root word in Greek means to learn, so most basically it mean leaner, but it meant so much more than that...follower, student, yes...but more than that! We can use the word so flippantly that we do not get the full meaning. Learned way of living!
A watcher of Jesus’ every move and wherever Jesus goes, you go!
⁃ So if Jesus goes up the mountain to teach you follow him up to listen because you want nothing more than to be with Him and learn from Him!
⁃ And as he teaches you hang on every sentence, every word, every syllable because you know He has the words of life! Not just because you are amazed at him teaching but because you want to do it because you realize that is the love of a disciple!
ARE YOU THAT KIND OF DISCIPLE? (It’s really the only kind)
That’s what we are going to try and do this semester...go up on the mountain with Jesus and listen and learn from Him so we can be true disciples and do what He says...
But not just on the days when we study this but everyday because we cannot get enough...we have the opportunity to sit at the feet every day!
It is your choice! No one gets to tell that anything is more pressing or important! Not school, not relationships, not tests, projects, friends, media, not even food! Not the immediate! Sometime we forget that that we have a choice, and the demands of others besides Christ are an option but being with Christ and being like Christ are a must!
I say this at the beginning because I realize that we can hear Jesus word but unless we push everything else aside if we have to make it daily it will go no further than the book! And a few brief thought!
So aren’t you tired of staying in the valley with the crowd and works and the noise and the negativity and the superficial and temporal! If you are follow Jesus up the mountain away from all that learn something that might really change your life more than some new product or new career, or new car or new house or anything this life can offer!
⁃ If so then…let’s move on...
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
Trans: The next nine phrases are what we call the beatitudes...
THE BEATITUDES
Q: WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A BEATITUDE?
The Beatitudes (Beatitude comes from the Latin term for blessing; beatitudo for ‘blessing.’ The Greek is ‘Makarios.’ In the Greek it means favored or fortunate or simply happy. (There are 8 in all.) (Christianity today mag: “Jesus is sharing the keys for happiness in the beatitudes. But more than that holiness which lead to true happiness.”)
Q: THESE MIGHT NOT SEEM STRANGE TO US BUT WHY WOULD THEY HAVE SEEMED STRANGE TO JESUS’ ORIGINAL AUDIENCE?
They sound like oxymorons. (Q: what is an oxymoron? (Don’t give me any names of anyone, Ha?) (Like fresh frozen, old news, civil war, jumbo shrimp) A contradiction in terms. Like saying Your blessed because you have lost everything.
Must have had some kind of level of shock to its hearers as He said, “Blessed are those who mourn” (it doesn’t seem like a blessing to lose. and “blessed are those who are persecuted?”)
IT IS NOT A BLESSING TO GO THROUGH STRUGGLE GOD CAN BLESS US THROUGH IT.
Man we need this perspective right now! God can use the difficulty we are facing to bless us with great things later! WE ARE BLESSED NOW THROUGH HOPE IN GOD’S CONTROL.
Q: WHAT BLESSING HAVE YOU BEEN GIVEN BY GOD BECAUSE OF THE DIFFICULTY WE HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH?
Closer relationship with God, greater reliance on His strength, reminder of what most important? Family, fellowship of God’s people.
Trans: finally let’s get to the first beatitude...
“BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT, FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN”" Matt 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(This seems strange; how are you blessed or happy if you are poor in spirit…)
Q: THE FIRST QUESTION IS OBVIOUSLY: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE POOR IN SPIRIT?
Let’s answer the question first what does it not mean?
1. It does not mean we have no regard for self. That we think we are worthless or useless or a failure or defined by our mistakes. We must love ourselves (Lk 10) but realize our need for God. Biblical examples; Moses, Solomon, Isaiah…
2. It does not mean simply poor but could include them. Lk 6:20 has simply poor, but His meaning is the same as Matthew.
Q: DOES BEING POOR AUTOMATICALLY MAKE YOU HUMBLE? NO.
However, there is a connection between being poor in spirit and poor in money…
Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
This is not always the case but many times being needy physically helps a person understand that their greater need for God.
As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!
The term ‘poor in spirit’ could also be said, ‘lowly in spirit.’
All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Q: WHY WILL THE POOR IN SPIRIT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN?
Because they realize their need for God. Those who recognize their spiritual need for God…without God we are spiritually destitute. We need to realize our need for Him.)
Q: WHAT KEEPS PEOPLE FROM BEING “POOR IN SPIRIT TODAY?”
Wealth, pride, ignorance, self righteousness, lack of spiritual mindset.
People are trying to get enough wealth to be happy while at the same time they are trying to build up their own security and self sufficiency they lose their humility and happiness.
(ILL: This is evidenced by the fact that it is harder to convert the rich than the poor…Hence Jesus saying in Mt 19:24 that it is easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle than enter the kingdom. ) Some do not have the “lowly” or humble spirit needed.
IF YOU REMEMBER YOUR PLACE UNDER GOD, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE REACHING UP TO HIM FOR EVERYTHING IN LIFE, UNTIL HE BRINGS YOU TO BE BESIDE HIM IN HEAVEN!
Happy are the Sad? Or at least they will be… this beatitude is a compliment to the first…
BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN, FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Q: MOURNING COMES AFTER WHAT? LOSS. (not the night)
This really does get the attention and seemed like a contradiction
Q: HOW IN THE WORLD COULD WE BE BLESSED IF WE HAVE SUFFERED LOSS AND ARE MOURNING?
BECAUSE IT IS THROUGH DEEP MOURNING THAT WE FIND THE DEEPEST AND MOST POWERFUL COMFORT IN GOD.
They are blessed because they shall be comforted and if they seek Him the one who is the God of comfort.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
Our mourning will be comforted (1) in this life and (2) in the fullest sense in heaven. (Rev 21:4) “HE WILL WIPE AWAY EVERY TEAR FROM THEIR EYES, NO MORE CRYING”
THE BLESSING THAT HAS COME THROUGH THE LOSS IN MY LIFE IS THAT GOD HAS COMFORTED ME WHEN NO ONE AND NOTHING ELSE COULD. THROUGH THOSE THINGS I AM CLOSER TO HIM.
SOMETIMES WE EXPERIENCE LOSS (REAL, DIFFICULT LOSS) AND WE SUPPRESS OUR GRIEF AND DO NOT MOURN AND ALLOW GOD OR OTHERS TO HELP.
If that is where you are then know that it is ok to mourn your loses. We all have them, we all need to mourn at times. Let God and other help you.
Q:DOES THIS MEAN THAT WE SHOULD GO AROUND MOPING ALL THE TIME?
Q: WHAT DOES IT MEAN THEN?
Mourning is not moping, it is not depression…panthao in Greek is deepest heartfelt grief… lead to comfort…Godly sorrow leads to repentance (2 Cor.7:10).
Q: WHAT DO WE NEED TO MOURN ABOUT?
First of all, our sin, if not we will not repent and be forgiven.
Q: What keeps us from mourning over our sin? Pride, comparing ourselves to others and not taking sin seriously. (Biblical examples: David…)
“BLESSED ARE THE MEEK, FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH” Matt 5:5
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Q: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE MEEK? DOES IT MEAN THAT WE SHOULD BE PUSHOVERS?
The word for meek in Greek is ‘praus’ which means gentle, kind or forgiving. Meekness is not weakness, Jesus described Himself as gentle. Same word used. (Mt 11:29)
Jesus was meek enough to wash the feet the disciples yet mighty enough to die on the cross. He could have called 10,000 angels. He did not retaliate and that takes more strength than uncontrolled power.
The Greeks used the word to describe a horse that has been broken, powerful but under control. The concept of meekness is that God takes us and puts us under control and molds us to be more useful as His instrument.
So the difference is that we do not have the power but God does. However, He will not force us to be used by Him. We can quench the Spirit. But if we are meek, He works powerfully through us.
Moses is one of the best examples of this.
Moses was also said to be meek; Numbers 12:3 most meek of any man on the face of the earth.
Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.
(Now I know what some of you may be thinking. Who wrote Numbers? Moses (but really God) So Moses writes that He is very meek. Ha!
(Look at what God could do through Moses even though he thought he wasn’t the man for the job… but look at how he led 2 million people out of evil.)
Examples in life (Ex 14:13 faith at the Red Sea, Moses prays for the people…He had passion and love and courage to lead and even plead with God.)
Meekness is power turned productive through GOD’S POWER!
Trans: Now let’s look at what the result of being meek is.
Q: WHAT DOES THE TEXT MEAN BY “INHERIT THE EARTH?”
Some premills would say this is the earth under the 1000 yrs reign of Christ. (Premill garbage)
But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
But it would be better interpreted with 2 Pet. 3:13…the new earth as in heaven. Or it could mean that those who are meek and do not take by force will be blessed by God with what they need.
However, the word “inherit” leads me to believe that Jesus is talking about the “new earth” as in 2 Peter 3:13 and Revelation.