Blessed With Kingdom Values

Matthew 5:1-12

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7  Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

To begin with, brothers and sisters, christian friends, well wishers, and saints of God, this is an interesting text because in the country side of Judea it was and still is a hilly landscape. And so the scene setting and place of the famous sermon on the mount has it’s beginning. The sermon on the mount is Jesus’ signature sermon. He teaches and preaches the Gospel on top of a hilly landscape. The picturesque geography makes Jesus’ voice sound like He’s talking in a microphone. His voice is amplified, and everybody in the huge crowd could hear him plain and clear.

And if you notice the text Jesus didn’t come out of the gate with a negative criticism of the scribes or the Pharisees.

So let’s get into what Jesus said, And how it applies to us. And in the onset of this message Jesus taught that righteousness flows from within and then without even though Pharisees taught that righteousness was an outward expression that could be measured by works and deeds and indulgences. Everything that we do for God ought to start from with in first then obeying rules and regulations, praying, fastings , and giving to the glory of God.

Jesus’ first word was Blessed . Blessed in the Greek vernacular is the word Makarioi which means to be fortunate or happy because of circumstances. Being blessed means to be filled with strength, to be full ; to be praised and adored. And what some people may not know is that blessed or Makarioi means to wish on oneself a blessing. So with that basic construct in mind let’s read the first statement. Jesus taught them, saying,

3  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

So if our ultimate definition to the word blessed means for us to wish a blessing on our own selves then verse three means that it’s about our attitude toward ourselves. Listen to be poor in spirit means to be humble, and it means to have the right assessment, and correct estimate of ones own self. Jesus is saying it’s different from the world views poor spirit, because the world wants you with no backbone at all. And if that’s not the case then the world system wants us to be self- praising and self-asserted, and selfish. Jesus is saying Brothers and sisters many of you have come out to the hilly Judean country side to hear a word and the first word is Blessed are the those of you who are honest with yourselves, those who know themselves accept themselves, and those who do it to the glory of God.

Question today is Are you truly living as Jesus said Blessed are the Poor in Spirit?

The next thing the text teaches talks and tells us is found in verses 4,5,&6 4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

The three verses 4,5 &6 is where Jesus talks about Our attitude towards our sins. So keep in mind the word Blessed or Makarioi which means to be filled with strength to be fortunate or happy ultimately wishing a blessing to be bestowed upon one’s own self, right? but it sounds like an oxymoron Jesus on the one hand is telling me to wish for a blessing to be pronounced on myself, and yet on the other hand Jesus reminds us of our sins. And not just remind us of our sins but gives us a solution or a way to solve our sins problem. It starts with our attitude towards our sins. Jesus is saying in essence, that we have to hate our sin and we have to see sin the way God sees sin and then seek to treat sin the way God treats sin. God loves the sinner but hates the sin..The text is telling us not to mourn over sin but to seek to be meek and submit to God. And upon Submitting to God we will be comforted, But submitting to God is hard. Being Meek is hard because meekness is not weakness it’s power under control, but even worst is living in sin with no hope of getting out it. That is hard!!! Question Why do we need to be comforted in the first place if we didn’t do something to be uncomfortable? The word comfort is the word Paraklethesontai .

(para-ka-let -o) Paraklethesontai

(Para- ka-let-0) means to be comforted while being told to admonish. In other words Jesus tells us

We are wishing for a blessing to be pronounced upon us because we are mourning because of the consequences of our sins and we need comfort.the new century versions says we are grieving And and and Jesus will give us relief from our grief. But in searching out the word comfort I found out that Jesus will give us relief from our grief but he will remind us that He already told us not to do wrong but we did it anyway and now we are hurting. Jesus admonishes us of our wrong doing He warns us.

Here’s an example: Your moma told you not to climb up in that tree and when she turned her back you did it anyway. You fell down out the tree and broke your arm. She takes you to the hospital and the doctors put it in a cask. Your moma tells you it’s going to be alright baby but I told you not to climb up in that tree in the first place. And it’s the same thing with verses 5& 6 with being humble and seeking justice. We can’t be the kind of people who seek justice after we’ve been wrong as two left shoes. If we just do righteous, be righteous, and live righteous everything will be alright.

The next set of verses 7,8,&9 talks about Our Attitude Towards The Lord .

7  Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

In verse 7 I found out that you can’t ask for mercy if you’re not merciful yourself. In other words you can’t get Eleethesontai (El- le- et - o) which means Mercy until you have been Eleemones (El- le - a- moun )which is Merciful.

Then in verse 8 the pure in heart If everybody’s heart was pure then Jesus would not have had to have a sermon on top of the mountain about it. Say it ain’t so Rev. So what is it? It’s our heart our Kardia. Our Kardia or our heart in this text signifies the heart, the mind, and the will where the inner person is, and where the will and decision making faculties exist. In other words if God can get to your heart Kardia then He can stop you from choosing wrong things and you can see God and get to go to heaven.

Finally our Attitude Towards God in verse 9 indicates. Everybody out there in that crowd on the hilly Judean country side were not peacemakers and didn’t deserve to called the sons of God. The scribes and the Pharisees were not on Jesus’ side and they were hell raisers who came in the name of the Lord. That’s an oxymoron in itself. Some folk supposed to be coming in the name of the Lord for peace but Jesus says that they don’t have peace in them and they will not see God. Listen brothers and sisters Our Attitudes Towards God has to be right. and Our Attitudes Towards God’s people have to line up with God’s Word.

Then there is Our Attitudes Towards the World

10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus seems to be saying that finally it’s not your fault. All of the previous verses, verses 4-9, were talking about Our attitudes towards our sins and our attitudes towards the Lord. But Matthew 5: 10-12 actually verses 10-16 are talking about our attitude towards the world.

It’s not easy to be a dedicated Christian. 10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Who in their right mind wants to be persecuted because you did what was right? Nobody!!!

11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Mt 5:11). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. Jesus said people of the world are going revile you, persecute you, say evil stuff about you that they know isn’t true. But if they could tear you down they’ll do it.!!!!

Brothers and sisters there is conflict between the Christians and the worldly folk. And why is that? It’s because we are in the world but not of the world. We ought to have different attitudes toward the world system. I’m preaching and teaching Inclusion meaning we accept everybody. We accept everybody. But! that doesn’t mean we have to do what they do. We have our own demons to conquer. So why am I taking on your demons. I need the Lord to help me stay on the straight and narrow. And when you’ve been way wrong way out on left field and God brought you into His saving Grace you’ll be able to rejoice.Look at verse

12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

The key word here is Rejoice rejoice in the Greek vernacular is the word Chario. Chariete (Kai-ro) means to be calmly happy while all of your haters are talking about you. it means to be happy and impersonal while they are persecuting you and saying evil stuff about get this now while you’re walking away from them saying duces saying I’m out of here. You aren’t going to steal my Joy. Because in order to have joy you have to be able to Rejoice. tell them Farewell see you later hater.

I’m through brothers and sisters I hope this lesson was a blessing. and Y’all come back now you hear.