Beatitudes
Waypoints • Sermon • Submitted
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· 15 viewsWe will cover the first 7 beatitudes leaving the final beatitude for next week.
Notes
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Big Idea: The beatitudes are arranged much like the 10 commandments are. The first four of them are about our inward heart and vertical relationship with God while the last four are about our outward response and horizontal relationship with our fellow man. We will never fully relate to our fellow man correctly if we don’t first fix our attitude towards God. Work through the first seven of the beatitudes quickly and succinctly drawing practical application with each one.
Before we were stationed here in the beautiful Washington state, we were down on the gulf coast of Florida. It is hands down one of the most beautiful spots in the U.S.
Our attitude changes everything. In the percentage of things that affect your life…attitude sits at roughly 100% of what matters. Don’t believe me…go read the book of Job this week.
In His opening statements, Jesus gives us these upside down principles of the attitudes that are valuable in His kingdom. He gives us the waypoints around our attitude that show us the attitudes that are important to inculcate in our hearts.
Vertical relationship and horizontal relationship (open with this)
Our vertical relationship with God directly affects our horizontal relationship with our fellow man.
Every one of the beatitudes begins with ‘Blessed are...’
Blessed means to take joy in.
Talk about the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is circumstantial and based on current events. Joy is a committed reality that transcends the moment.
Happiness is a beautifully cooked medium rare Ribeye steak. Man there is nothing worse than going to a fancy restaurant with your heart set on a really good steak and then they bring it out to you and its tough as shoe leather and overcooked. That makes for an unhappy experience. Joy, however, is in knowing that this isn’t my last meal that I know of and there will be more steaks in the future. Joy is the thing that no single set of circumstances can touch and is entirely connected to my attitude. No matter how bad the circumstances of that meal are or how poorly the steak is cooked, nothing can mess with my joy and cause me to stop loving a good steak.
All of these ‘Blessed are’ statements are inviting us into the deeper joy connected with an attitude rooted in the promises that follow. Each principle that we will look at comes with a promise that is meant to help us to commit to the attitude the promise is contingent upon.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Do funny loan bit...
Poor in spirit is the realization that we bring nothing to the equation when it comes to our relationship with God.
You and I have done nothing to earn Gods grace and favor and there is absolutely nothing we can do to make Him love us more or less. If we have truly decided to follow Jesus then at some point we have realized this and it drove us to call out to God to save us when we could not save ourselves.
Coming to God with a poor spirit realizing our need for His life, His death, and His forgiveness on our behalf is what makes us heirs of the kingdom of heaven in the first place. God’s kingdom (or per this verse; the kingdom of heaven) is not contained within physical boundary lines but is where His rule and reign are affected perfectly. Where He is Lord. Yes that is absolutely in heaven where He resides, but that is also in the hearts of those who have submitted to His rule and reign in their lives.
This produces and is seen most clearly in our reliance on God’s grace and leading in every single situation.
That is…do you operate on a shoot first ask for forgiveness later type basis with God or do you stop and not lean on your own understanding or your own goodness or your own definitions of good and evil and instead rely solely on God?
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Mourning is about a sadness or a brokenness over our sin.
This is a realization that our sin is costly. It cost the sinless man Jesus (the creator of all things) to enter into our broken world and be killed in the most gruesome way imaginable for crimes He did not commit.
Now, some of you probably don’t have any issue at all with this. In fact, you may live in a constant state of mourning, crippled by the guilt and shame of your actions (even the slightest infraction) such that you either a. hide from God and run away, b. give yourself over to self-flagellation and legalism so that you never do that thing again (talk about what self-flagellation is and how we actually do this mentally now…we all know people like this and they are typically a joy to be around), or c. maybe you just think whats the point in even trying and you just kind of go off the deep end and give yourself over to sin.
I believe this verse actually opens a fourth alternative…one that actually brings comfort.
I believe this verse invites us to see that our sin was indeed costly but that the price and punishment for that sin has already been paid for. And so...
We should live in such a way that we are quick to seek forgiveness and turn back to God.
This type of attitude is meant to bring comfort. If we are not careful, we can erect this image that God is just the all-seeing judge in the sky just waiting for you to mess up so He can drop the hammer. The reality, however, is that God isn’t here ready to smack you over the head for every wrong you do…the reality is that He has already paid a high price and took your punishment…this attitude mourns over the punishment our sin caused Jesus but allows us to take comfort in His final words on the cross: ‘It is finished.’
“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
Does anyone have a different word in their Bible besides gentle?
Yeah the original word is meek…I’m not sure why the NASB translates it this way.
Just being honest, this word meek sort of rubs me the wrong way. It conjures up images of of a mousy, quiet timid person who really isn’t good for much…if im just being honest. Luckily, that’s not what Jesus meant by meek.
This is a word referring to the domestication of animals…do that bit…not like a dog but like an ox.
Meekness is about power under control and is ultimately about submission.
If you remember from last week, I said that a disciple is first and foremost someone who is orienting their life to Jesus in increasing submission over time.
How in the world do you inherit the earth though?
Jesus would say that; “what is it for a man to gain the whole world but lose is soul”
That is to say, that as we submit to Jesus and his leading and begin working (like a domesticated animal) towards His ends that He will give you the deepest desires of your heart…because it is really His heart beating within you.
That’s when verses like: “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find.” and “all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you.” really come alive.
This isn’t some pitch for the prosperity gospel…that if you would just believe and have enough faith, God will bless you with whatever you ask for…this is a realization that the prayers that get answered are the ones that are rooted in a submission to the will of God because those are the desires that reside in the heart of God.
One pastor says it this way…the prayers that most regularly get answered are the ones that start in heaven.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
To ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness’ is ultimately about satisfaction.
We all have cravings that fit into one of three categories...
Do success, significance, and satisfaction bit.
These are good and they are God given. What happens though, when we try and shortcut our way to those things apart from God? We are right back in the garden of eden aren’t we?
The results of this are always fear, guilt, anger, and shame (give examples, marriage and sex and the brokenness found there, money and the life of toil and broken marriages, ruined finances, slimy business practices, relationships forged through manipulation and control, etc.)
Here is what C.S. Lewis says about desires and their ultimate source of satisfaction:
“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.”
The promise of this verse is that when that is our mentality, then we will have satisfaction…not just on the other side of death (I disagree with Lewis about this) but in the here and now. Much like a bad experience at the steakhouse does not quell my passions for a well cooked steak, seemingly unfulfilled satisfaction, significance, or success does not breed discontent and cause me to lay ahold of that satisfaction apart from God but it just makes me long all the more for the day in which that satisfaction will come in full. As I pursue righteousness through a life submitted to Jesus, I find that new desires…deeper desires are awoken in me that carry me far beyond what might seem lacking in my earthly desires.
Do the string of pearls thing...
Side note…talk about how all of these are inextricably linked together. This is where we shift to start talking about our horizontal relationship with our fellow man. If we fail to attain to the first four, we will never get these next four. Some of you wish you could be more sympathetic and forgiving, and lead a more peaceful stress free life and yet we will never get that if these first four aren’t part of our life.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Grace is giving someone what they don’t deserve.
Mercy is not giving someone what they do deserve.
Being merciful has everything to do with your sympathy for other people.
Jesus tells this story about a servant who had been forgiven the equivalent of millions of dollars by the king only to turn around, right after the incident, and beat a guy up on the street and throw him into jail over the equivalent of lunch money. Jesus says that servant failed to extend grace, mercy, and forgiveness because he failed to understand how much had been extended to him.
This greatly affects our life…can you think of a time in the last week that someone did something to you that legitimately deserved
This matters and has a huge impact on our life. It absolutely broke my heart to see people on the news on Wednesday dressed in tactical gear about to storm our nations capitol with some of them holding signs about God.
Jesus says this in
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
Jesus made this statement standing before the representative of the leader of the entire world right before his crucifixion on the cross. He later tells them that if he wanted, he could have ten thousand legions of angels at his side in an instant and wipe out any who stood in opposition to him or his kingdom but that this was not the way. This is not the way. God’s kingdom is one of grace and mercy. Where the hero is the one willing to lay his life down for the sake of another and who holds mercy in high regard.
Because if we fail to operate in mercy, grace, and forgiveness, then we are no different than that servant who was forgiven much but failed to extend it to another…
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
If we are not careful, we can think this is about our vertical relationship with God.
Pure means unstained or unmixed.
When we consider the immediate context of our attitude towards other people:
Pure in heart is about our sincerity and our motives.
Do we see the people around us as a means to an end or do we see them as people created in the image of God deserving respect, love, grace, mercy, dignity, and our charity? One viewpoint leads to God being glorified and the other leads to our own glory and prosperity.
Do you see why an attitude of poorness of spirit and meek submission is critical for our ability to see people that way.
Either God is using us to build His kingdom or we are using Him to build ours.
And remember, we said that God’s kingdom is where His rule and reign are affected perfectly. Are we stewarding our relationships towards that end…that people might know Jesus and submit to Jesus…or, do our motives towards other people point to a much more self serving end?
The result of this pure heart is that we get to see God. This isn’t just in eternity…this has bearing in the here and now. God’s image is reflected in people who are submitted to Him. Are we building relationships and discipling people to do that?
Do the “Not just so people would be christians or come to our church bit.” But that people would submit to Jesus as his disciples in greater degree…because that life is a blessed life full of joy. That is the life that makes us fully alive and able to experience the fullest satisfaction as they learn to hunger and thirst for the satisfaction that only comes through Jesus.
When that is our motive and when that is how we see people, that is when people see God clearest through our lives and it is when we see Gods image most clearly reflected in the world.
And finally...
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Peacemaker has everything to do with our attitude towards conflict.
Let me ask you a question…Is conflict a good thing or a bad thing?
Conflict is inevitable I believe. I also believe conflict is amoral meaning it is neither good or bad. Conflict is like a brick. You can choose to take a brick and throw it through a window or you can take that brick and build a homeless shelter with it. The goodness of the object rests solely in the hands of the person holding it. I believe this is conflict.
Because of this, I think it is necessary to talk about the difference between a peacekeeper and a peacemaker. Both of these groups live in peace…only one however is experiencing true peace.
A peacekeeper notices a bump on the road and does anything to avoid it or lessen its impact. A peacemaker stops their travel and fixes the bump on the road. A peacekeeper avoids conflict at all costs while a peacemaker actively works to establish peace both internally and with others.
Oh church we need this truth to sink into our hearts so badly right now. Our country needs to see this exemplified in the lives of Gods people.
Conflict is uncomfortable and a peacekeeper avoids it at all cost and when this becomes our climate we give power to the voice of dissent for the sake of a false peace. Conflict can be uncomfortable and yet as we work through conflict together, trust is built and real solutions are reached. A church that cannot enter into healthy conflict, be sharpened by it, and reach meaningful solutions has signed its own death certificate.
It is only safe to enter into conflict, however, if the spirit of peacemaking is present in the hearts of people. We can only control how we respond in a situation…we cannot control how others respond and yet this does not stop us from entering into conflict to seek resolution.
This doesn’t just apply to churches…this goes for marriages, friendships, and parenting as well.
One final note…peacemaking doesn’t just apply to situations of conflict that affect you personally. We have a duty as peacemakers to step into conflicts of others and bring resolution when we can. What are the relationships where you have enough relational capitol to be able to intervene to bring resolution that might not come otherwise?
I want to finish this morning with the promise attached to this principle.
Peacemakers shall be called sons of God.
Jesus the son of God came as a peacemaker. Jesus’ entire mission was a peacemaking mission. He could have avoided conflict and by extension relegated every one of us to hell and He wouldn’t have done a single one of us wrong. But because He was a peacemaker, He came in poorness of spirit (relinquishing his godly nature) as the suffering savior mourning our sins sweating and crying drops of blood as He consider the punishment, guilt and shame He was about to bear on our behalf. He came in meekness fully submitted to the will of God and pursued righteousness as God intended it…not as man defined it. Jesus came to deliver mercy and He did so with a completely pure heart bent towards accomplishing God’s goals and his heart was so pure that He could effectively say that if you have seen me, you have seen the father. And finally Jesus came to bring peace to our broken and sinful humanity. Peace came as He closed the separation between us and God by dying on our behalf.
To follow Jesus as his disciple means that we follow His example. These are the waypoints Jesus gives us to follow on our journey of discipleship. This is the attitude that we are to have in us if we are truly to be called Sons of God.
As you look around at your relationships, do they bear the marks of a life following the beatitudes? If not, then back up the stream a little further and check the attitudes in your inner self and towards God.
The question I want to leave you with this week is:
Are you living the blessed life because of the attitudes of Jesus in you?
Do waypoints bit...
Next week we are going to cover the final beatitude. We are actually going to devote an entire week to just that one attitude because it is necessary if you are truly living out these other attitudes. I believe the final beatitude deserves its own week because of how foreign it is to all of us and because of how countercultural it truly is to live out in our day to day lives.