The Beatitudes of Need我們的希求

Matthew 5:1–6 CSB

When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Matthew 5:1–6 CNVT

耶穌看見群眾，就上了山；他坐下之後，門徒來到他跟前，他就開口教訓他們： 「心靈貧乏的人有福了， 因為天國是他們的。 哀痛的人有福了， 因為他們必得安慰。 溫柔的人有福了， 因為他們必承受地土。 愛慕公義如飢如渴的人有福了， 因為他們必得飽足。

INTRO

What’s up church family!

Have any of you ever been lost before? I don’t mean just when you are trying to drive to Taipei and take a wrong left turn, but have you ever been somewhere and you have no idea which way is North, South, East, or West? There was a time when I lived in Colorado, and we went on a spiritual retreat. One day during the retreat they had us go out by ourselves into the mountains to have a day of silence and solitude. So I took off. I walked and walked, trying as hard as I could to be silent(that is hard one for me), and pretty soon I began to look around and nothing looked familiar. This was before smart phones, so I was simply lost. The worst part of being lost is you don’t know that if you continue this direction you could just be getting more lost. I began to look around, walking back, trying to retrace my steps. That’s when I saw a familiar rock, this huge rock that was right by our retreat center. That rock became my “true north”. I just kept walking towards that rock, and sure enough it led me home.

Transition

Church family our world is lost. Our culture is lost. We are confused and getting more and more confused. We’ve been asking this very important question: “how to stay devoted to Jesus in an age of distraction?” If you are like me maybe you have watched a little too many YouTube videos and you have this feeling of just being confused and lost. When we live lives of distraction and are pulled away from Jesus’ words, we are like me walking in the forest getting more and more lost.

Currently there are so many issues that seem to be confusing or even divisive in the church today. I remember when I first became a Christian I would sit and have debates about the sovereignty of God, or the power of the Holy Spirit, but now I see that the debates have changed. Maybe you’ve experienced having arguments with Christians over whether or not to wear a mask? Maybe you have had arguments over vaccination? Maybe as you have engaged with people you feel confused and lost. Scripture tells us that God is not a god of confusion. He’s not. He doesn’t seek to confuse His children. Maybe you aren’t confused but maybe you feel fear. This oppressive fear. You’ve heard stories or statistics, or watched a documentary and you struggle with this constant feeling of fear. “what if?” “what if?” I can sympathize with how you might feel. It is so easy, like we talked about weeks ago, to get slowly pulled away from the words of Jesus, and we find ourselves drowning in a sea of confusion and fear. But Scripture tells us that God has not given you a spirit of fear. That fear is not from God.

2 Timothy 1:7 CSB

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.

2 Timothy 1:7 CNVT

因為　神所賜給我們的，不是膽怯的靈，而是有能力、仁愛、自律的靈。

The word “sound” means “self-disciplined” basically a disciplined mind. So in a culture that is lost, in a world that is confused, is swimming in fear, as disciples of Jesus we are called not to fear, but to have a sound mind.

How do we do that? How do you say no to the distractions around you, to the confusion, and say yes to the Holy Spirit?

Show compass. This is a compass. It would have been really helpful when I was in the forest. So no matter where you are in the world, you no where North is. Church family we need a compass. We can not run the risk of just getting swept away in confusion and distraction. What is our compass? The bible. The words of Jesus. That is why we are taking a journey through the sermon on the mount. Jumping right in. No matter what we believe about mask wearing, about vaccinations, about politics, Jesus’ words are our “true north”, His words tells us how to be devoted disciple in the age of distraction.

The Sermon講道

Let’s begin by taking a 30,000 foot view of the sermon:

Starting with Matthew. Matthew is writing this Gospel to mainly Jewish Christians. His message overall in this Gospel is to say Jesus is your long awaited King! And His Kingdom is what you all have been waiting for. Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises of God!

In this sermon on the mount, we have to remember Matthew’s point is Jesus is the fulfillment of what you’ve been waiting for.

Church family we are just like these people aren’t we? These Jewish Christians as they were surrounded by persecution or by social pressure. As they saw the victories and wealth of the Roman Empire. They had to be reminded, that all of their longings, all of their needs, are fulfilled in the person of Christ. Let me ask you a question? What do you long for right now? What are searching for? It could be just some peace and quiet if you are doing online school with your kids. Maybe you are searching for a job situation to be handled. Maybe you are looking for a spouse! What Matthew brings us, reminds us, is that ultimately, what we are looking for, what we need, is completely found and fulfilled in Jesus.

Discipleship

We’ve been talking about discipleship lately. How do we make disciples? I am sure that many of us have used different discipleship studies or books. But for the early church the Gospel of Matthew was used as their discipleship curriculum. So no matter if you were a Roman, a Jew, or in the mystery cults, once you came to faith in Christ, you would go through the book of Matthew in order to be formed as a disciple of Jesus.

And much of the sermon on the mount would be memorized. Right now we got lots of bibles

Mark how many bibles do you own?

I have so many! That is a good thing! But the early church didn’t, so much of the Gospel of Matthew, and the sermon on the mount would be memorized. Again being that compass in our hearts and minds that as we go about our day we are led by the words of Jesus and not by the confusion of our culture.

AS we approach the sermon on the mount there are several different ways to interpret it. Which category would you fall in?

Just Do It: Jesus fully intended that his followers would receive the promises and actually live out the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount [early Church].

Just to Convict: The SotM raises the bar impossibly high (“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”) in order to convince its hearers/readers of their need for salvation through the grace of God in Jesus Christ [Post-Reformation].

 Just Your Attitude: Jesus never meant for us to literally follow the SotM; rather, he “intends mainly to give directions and principles, and especially to inculcate attitudes or motivations” [Early Modern Protestant].

 Just Not Yet: This is the kingdom ethic that will be practiced during the future millennial reign of Christ, after his second coming [Dispensational].

Mark when you have thought about the sermon on the Mount, how have you interpreted it?

The sermon on the mount describes how citizens of the kingdom of God live under the rule and reign of their King. (repeat) You can see, the kingdom of God puts forth a vision of what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus.

BIG thing to remember! We are not saying that these are things you do IN ORDER to become a citizen of the KOG. You think about me living in Taiwan. Just because I speak Chinese, I eat some Taiwanese food, I wear my pajamas to go take the trash out, that doesn’t make me a Taiwanese citizen. I have to be granted citizenship. It is the same here. Just because you might live out some of these truths doesn’t mean you are a citizen of the Kingdom of God. What Jesus is describing here is not just a bunch of deeds that seem righteous, but actually the life of a heart that has been made righteous.

BEATITUDES OF NEED我們的需求

What is a blessed person?

Mark in Chinese culture how would someone describe a “blessed” person? What does it mean to be “blessed?”

It is the same for us. Everyone is searching for happiness. Every culture has their own definition of what “blessing” is. There is actually a website where you can join the movement for creating a “happier” world! Right now I am sure that being in your house, doing online school, and dealing with Covid you would not describe that as “blessed”! But how does God define a “blessed” person? In Jewish culture some of the very descriptions that Jesus gives about a “blessed” person, people would actually think they are cursed! Same for Taiwanese culture too right? Poor in spirit, needy, in bad situations, people look at that and say something is wrong with you! Jesus takes all of that and flips it on its head. “blessed” means happy, but it means you are considered by others to be blessed because God has divine favor on you. These people God has placed His divine favor.

When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to teach them, saying耶穌看見群眾，就上了山；他坐下之後，門徒來到他跟前，他就開口教訓他們：

A real quick note here. Jesus wants to make disciples not just draw a crowd. In our culture and world we base our success on how many followers we have on YouTube, Facebook likes, Instagram followers. In the church we can say that success is how big is your gatherings and how big is your budget. But notice that Jesus has the crowds, He has the popularity, yet what does He do? Calls His disciples to Himself. Up until this point Jesus’ ministry in Matthew has been preaching and healing. The crowds are going to listen in, but Jesus’ main goal in the sermon on the Mount is to instruct and teach His disciples.

Let’s join the disciples and listen to what Jesus is going to teach us as His disciples. Jesus says:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.”「心靈貧乏的人有福了， 因為天國是他們的。

“poor” in spirit. Jesus tells His disciples that those who are poor in spirit are divinely favored by God. What is poor in spirit? It means to recognize your spiritual need, your spiritual lack before a Holy God. This is someone who understands they need the mercy of God. Whatever our strengths may be, we know we need God’s grace.

Jesus doesn’t need disciples who think they can crush it at life(在生活中粉碎它?). Our culture prizes people who are self reliant, who project an image where they are crushing it at life! Right now I am sure you might be sitting in your house thinking about other families or other people and how they might be doing “quarantining at home” and you begin to compare yourself to them. You might see Facebook posts and see people who are “crushing” it! Church family, Jesus doesn’t need disciples who crush it at life, because someone has already crushed life for us, Jesus! HE says you are blessed when you come to Him and confess your need to Him.

He says to these people “the kingdom of heaven is theirs!

This verse and verse 10 are the only beatitudes where Jesus uses a present tense verb. You are possessing the kingdom now. Why does He say this? Why do people who confess their spiritual need for Christ possess the kingdom now? IF you look at the preaching of John the Baptist and Jesus, and the apostles in Acts, you will find a common theme where the preaching of the Kingdom is connected to repentance and faith! Repentance and faith are the door in to receiving and possessing the kingdom! That means that Jesus gives, GIVES, His kingdom, not to those who are crushing it at life, not to the self reliant, not to the self made people, not based on ethnicity, not on race, or gender, but to those who come to Him in repentance and faith.

so the next time you have that feeling of need, of lack, of realizing man you are not crushing life. Don’t give in to the temptation to just try harder, but take your neediness and bring it to Jesus your King who has crushed life for you. Our neediness His fullness. Our poverty, His riches.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.哀痛的人有福了， 因為他們必得安慰。

This past week we found out that Allison’s grandad is passing away. It has been a really tough week for us as a family. Here is a picture of David(INCLUDE PICTURE!!!) He is like a spiritual father to Allison. As a family we are really close to he and his wife. They visited us in Taiwan 3 times, they are active members in a church I was on staff at, I lived with them and learned from them when I was a poor bachelor preparing to marry Allison. HE is leaving a legacy of faithfulness to all of us. As hard as this is, it has been so healing for us to mourn. To grieve. To have a really good cry. When is the last time you had a good cry? You mourned? Jesus says “God divinely favors those who mourn”. Why? When Jesus uses this word mourn, I believe it is connected to the first beatitude. To those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy, they begin to mourn. Jesus says disciples of the kingdom are those who mourn over personal sin and corporate sin! The world celebrates sin. Our culture calls things good that God calls evil, and things evil that God calls good. Jesus says you are blessed when you instead of celebrating sin, you mourn over sin. So we don’t celebrate sin, but I think there is something that might be as dangerous as celebrating sin and that is: apathy. Indifference. Church family I know the temptation to grow apathetic towards the sin we see in this world. But it is dangerous.

Years ago when we lived in Danshui, we had family come over and visit us. When they got here I remember they began to see all the temples here in Taiwan, all the idolatry, and they began to be in shock at the kind of idol worship that was everywhere in Taiwan. I remember thinking to myself, “wow, I don’t even notice it that much anymore....” I was convicted. See I had gone from mourning over the sin I see in this culture, to just becoming numb and indifferent to it.

Church family some of you are broken because of sin that you see in your family members, maybe your kids, maybe your parents, and Jesus says you are blessed, God sees you and hears you! His promise Jesus says is that “you will be comforted”

Isaiah 61:3 CSB

to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify him.

Jesus alone brings the comfort we need.

We are going to stop here today. Because I want to give us this week some time and space to think about the first two beatitudes:

Christianity isn’t a “be happy all the time” religion. There are false spiritualities that say what you need to do to get inner peace is remove all the negativity from your life. That such a horrible way to live. What that says is that all the negativity is outside of you, other peoples faults! Not that we have our own stuff in our own hearts. The way of Jesus calls us to something deeper. Something more real, to mourn, to weep. Not to remove ourselves out of it, but to weep.

What distraction does is it just keeps us shallow. We don’t feel the highs of life nor the lows, whenever we get to that place of feeling bored or sad, what do we do? We reach out for our phones….

Christ’s Fullness Our Lack

MARK I’ll just end here talking about we are blessed not just because we have need, but because we have a King who comes and fills us up.

Listen what we see today is that the Kingdom of God is for the broken, for those who mourn, for the humble! The pride and arrogant, the self-reliant have no way of entering in. Church family it is moments like these when we feel that God is distant, that we might feel HE isn’t near. But it is in these moments, when we feel broken in spirit, when we mourn, when we suffer, that Jesus is the closest.

Our lack, Christ’s fullness, our need Christ’ Is Enough.