The Commands of Christ-12e

Don Parmely

Commands of Christ • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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September 1, 2021 The Commands of Christ – 12e

Adult Bible Study

The Beatitudes (Part 4)

Ice-Breaker:

Tonight as we continue to consider the Commands of Christ

Recap: Series Foundational Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20 esp. vs.20

As we study the Commands of Christ we are using Tom Blackaby’s approach in his 2012 book, The Commands of Christ. In his book, Blackaby divides the commands of Christ into 6 areas:

We have covered the commands that relate to coming to God:

We continue to cover the commands that relate to Christ is Lord of our life as we:

John Stott reminds us: … the group exhibiting these marks is not an elitist set, a small spiritual aristocracy remote from common Christians. On the contrary, the beatitudes are Christ's own specification of what every Christian ought to be. All of these qualities are to characterize all his followers. They describe his ideal for us as citizens of God's Kingdom.

I think there is a connection with the Fruit of the Spirit, but I haven’t yet had a chance to explore that connection.

Dig:

Read: Matthew 5:1-12 (2 readings)

No, Jesus didn’t say, “I command you to… BUT, don’t these statements have the force of commands since they include blessing (favor with God), which implies NOT being/doing these things causes God to be against us?:

Be poor in spirit

To mourn

To be meek

To hunger and thirst for righteousness

To be merciful

To be pure in heart

To be a peacemaker

To GLADLY suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness. Even more, to REJOICE when we suffer for Jesus.

We have looked at at hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

In fact the Fire Bible said:

This is one of the most important verses in the Sermon on the Mount. Without this intense desire for righteousness, a person will not pursue a deeper relationship with God or try to develop the rest of the character traits Jesus describes.

What has Jesus said so far (in the previous beatitudes) that might lead us to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6)?

(List on whiteboard)

Because we realize we are destitute of the things of the Kingdom UNLESS we hunger and thirst for them.

Because comfort in the place of mourning comes from God alone.

Because we realize that God’s righteousness is the only thing that allows us to inherit anything.

Righteousness, for the child of god - means right standing with God — and don’t we want that above anything of this earth?

4. Jesus promises that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled (satisfied) (Matthew 5:6). What can you do cultivate a healthy, hearty spiritual appetite?

The Greek word for “filled/satisfied is used 12 times in the Gospel (14 in the NT). It is used 13 times in a literal sense — only once (in our 5:6) is it used figuratively.

One figurative use in Septuagint: Lamentations 3:15-16 (NASB) He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood. 16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.

So, how do we cultivate an appetite for this figurative (but real!) state? (Whiteboard)

Make it a priority. Seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33)

Through the Word.

Through prayer.

Through worship.

By seeking from the ONLY One who can satisfy.

An Exegetical Summary of The Sermon on the Mount (5:6)

QUESTION—How, when, and by whom will they be satisfied? God will satisfy them [ICC, Mor; TEV]. Some satisfaction takes place now [MLJ], but ultimate satisfaction will happen in eternity [ICC, MLJ, WBC]. They will be satisfied by a relationship with God unclouded by disobedience [TNTC2]. They will be satisfied by a world where righteousness dwells [ICC].

Now, go back to the next beatitude: Mercy

Complete Biblical Library: Eleēmōn can be translated “merciful” in the sense of being actively compassionate. It is used of men in Matthew 5:7 and of Christ in Hebrews 2:17. In both instances mercy is an attribute of God lived out on earth.

6. Jesus says the merciful will be shown mercy (Matthew 5:7). Why do you think our treatment of others will affect God's treatment of us?

It is a principle of God’s Kingdom (natural and supernatural):

What you plant is what you reap:

Galatians 6:7–9 NASB 2020

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Let’s not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not become weary.

If we are going to RECEIVE mercy we will have to GIVE mercy.

Do YOU want mercy? Why?

This reminds us of The Golden Rule:

Matthew 7:12 (NASB 2020)

“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Verse 7-11 somehow lead to vs. 12 (Therefore). How? I don’t think we really figured it out.

But let’s look further at the emphasis that Jesus gives to this when He

says: “…this is the law and the prophets.)

Let’s compare this to:

Matthew 22:34–40 NASB 2020

But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”

That makes this a FOUNDATIONAL teaching. Jesus is saying that everything in the OT since Moses gave the Law tells us this:

Love God

Love others (as ourselves)

John Piper says:

What Jesus Demands from the World Demand 32: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself, for This is the Law and the Prophets

The focus of the “second” commandment—“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39)—is not on whether the receiver of love is an enemy or a friend, but on whether the one who loves desires the neighbor’s good as he desires his own. Its importance is seen by the two stupendous things that lie on either side of it. On one side is the greatest commandment in the Word of God—“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” On the other side is the assertion that everything written in the Law and the Prophets hangs on these two commandments. We are in the company of incomparable superlatives—the two greatest commandments in the entire Word of God, and all of that Word hanging on them. We should take off our shoes in reverence here. There are few texts of Scripture greater than this.

So, showing mercy is akin to doing for others what we done for ourselves which is loving our neighbor as ourself.

Again, John Piper says:

What Jesus Demands from the World An Overwhelming and Staggering Command

The second commandment seems to me to be an overwhelming commandment. It seems to demand that I tear the skin off my body and wrap it around another person so that I feel that I am that other person; and all the longings that I have for my own safety and health and success and happiness I now feel for that other person as though he were me. It is an absolutely staggering commandment. If this is what it means, then something unbelievably powerful and earthshaking and reconstructing and overturning and upending will have to happen in our souls. Something supernatural. Something well beyond what self-preserving, self-enhancing, self-exalting, self-esteeming, self-advancing, fallen human beings like me can do on their own.

Underlining the greatness of this commandment is the fact that it is surpassed only by the command to love God with our whole being.

7. What opportunities has God given you to show mercy to those in need?

Sick folks in the church

UGH

Missions giving

Be poor in spirit

To mourn

To be meek

To hunger and thirst for righteousness

To be merciful

To be pure in heart

To be a peacemaker

To GLADLY suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness. Even more, to REJOICE when we suffer for Jesus.

8. The "pure in heart" (Matthew 5:8) are not just inwardly pure, they are "utterly sincere" (J. B. Phillips). Their whole life, public and private, is transparent before God and others. Why is it difficult to live this way (transparent before God and others. Not that we can hide anything from God!)?

Psalm 139:1–18 NASB 2020

1 Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I get up; You understand my thought from far away. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, Lord, You know it all. 5 You have encircled me behind and in front, And placed Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot comprehend it. 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 If I take up the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will take hold of me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” 12 Even darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. 13 For You created my innermost parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You When I was made in secret, And skillfully formed in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my formless substance; And in Your book were written All the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.

Hebrews 4:12–13 NASB 2020

12 For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must answer.

Question 5. The idea that "pure in heart" refers to inward purity is certainly consistent with the whole Sermon on the Mount, which requires heart-righteousness rather than mere rule-righteousness. Nevertheless, in the context of the other beatitudes, "pure in heart" seems to refer in some sense to our relationships. Thus the pure in heart, in their relations with both God and others, are free from falsehood. Their very heart—including their thoughts and motives—is pure, unmixed with anything devious, ulterior or base. Hypocrisy and deceit are abhorrent to them; they are without guile.

I Am Blessed: Blessed Are the Pure in Heart I am Blessed: Blessed are the Pure in Heart

Pure in heart refers to someone who is authentically righteous. The Pharisees faked righteousness by outward behaviors, just like people can fake righteousness with good works today. But true purity of heart is given to the person who mourns his or her spiritual bankruptcy and hungers and thirsts for God’s righteousness in personal relationship with Christ.

Psalm 24:3–6 NASB 2020

Who may ascend onto the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? One who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to deceit And has not sworn deceitfully. He will receive a blessing from the Lord And righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face—even Jacob. Selah

9. Why would the promise of seeing God (Matthew 5:8) be reserved for those who are pure in heart?

Journey into Blessed Living: A Study of the Beatitudes Lesson 7: How to See God (Matthew 5:8)

There is a deep desire in every human heart to see God. Like Moses, we want to see God in all His glory (Ex 33:18).

Exodus 33:18 NASB 2020

Then Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!”

Question 6. Only the pure in heart will see God, see him now with the eye of faith and see his glory in the hereafter, for only the utterly sincere can bear the dazzling vision in whose light the darkness of deceit must vanish and by whose fire all shams are burned up.

10. Why is it fitting that "the peacemakers" will be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9)?

Question 9. A person who avoids conflict is not necessarily a peacemaker. Facing issues and helping people work through them is part of peacemaking.

11. How can we be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9) in our homes, in our churches and in society?

12. How is being a peacemaker different from settling for "peace at any price"?

Questions 10-11. It may seem strange that Jesus should pass from peacemaking to persecution, from the work of reconciliation to the experience of hostility. Yet however hard we may try to make peace with some people, they refuse to live at peace with us. Not all attempts at reconciliation succeed. Indeed, some take the initiative to oppose us, and in particular to "revile" or slander us. This is not because of our foibles or idiosyncrasies, but "because of righteousness" (Matthew 5:10) and "because of me" (Matthew 5:11), that is, because they find distasteful the righteousness for which we hunger and thirst (Matthew 5:6), and because they have rejected the Christ we seek to follow. Persecution is simply the clash between two irreconcilable value systems.

13. In spite of our efforts at peacemaking, what does Jesus say we will experience (Matthew 5:10-12)?

Why should this cause us to rejoice?

14. Why would the world hate the kind of people described in the beatitudes?

15. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was killed by the Nazis because of his faith, wrote: "With every beatitude the gulf is widened between the disciples and the people." How have the beatitudes challenged you to be different?

Adapted from: LifeGuide Topical Bible Studies - Sermon on the Mount.