Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome

Pastoral prayer

Save the souls on the cross

Provide a building for us

Transform our lives

No Wednesday night service this week

We will begin our new book next Wednesday

Please be active sharing your faith

If you have shared the gospel with someone this week please let me know

We are keeping up with those numbers

INTRODUCTION

This morning we are going to begin studying the Sermon on the Mount.

This is one of the most famous sermons of Jesus that was recorded in the gospels.

There have been many books written on it and many opinions formed about what it means for us today.

The reason it receives so much attention is because what Jesus teaches is so counter to our culture and our human nature that we have a hard time accepting it.

This is why we are calling this message today, “Counter-Culture Christianity”

God’s people are called to be set apart from this world.

This is why John the Baptist preached “repent” from our way of life.

And that means to be counter-culture people who do not conform to the modern culture that we live in.

And so what we will read today is not a radical form of Christianity, but what our lives should look like under the rule of God.

The Beatitudes describe what the Christian Life Looks Like

Notice that Jesus went up on a mountain and began to teach His disciples after He has broken away from the crowds.

This instruction was meant to be for the disciples only.

Do you know why?

Because the crowds could not understand it and could not follow it even if they tried.

1 Cor 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

This scene parallels Moses going up on Mt.

Sinai.

Here we have the Son of God giving instruction to His new followers

There we had God giving Moses the 10 commandments to show them how to live.

Heres the point: Jesus expects us to live this way

These are not ridiculous requests

These are standards for the Christian life

Some people believe these things are just unattainable in this lifetime

And they are correct, these cannot be lived out by every person who reads them.

But they can be lived by those who have experienced the new birth and began to live a new life.

The word “teach” means “to provide instruction”.

This was the way Jesus expected His disciples to live.

This instruction was not for listening purposes only but expected to be carried out in their lives.

And He also expects us to live these out as well.

These are not for our viewing pleasure, but for our digestion.

To be put into action!

Do not be hearers of the Word only, but be doers of the Word!

And we are to be doers of these words!

Here is what we like to do.

We like to pick and choose which ones fit us.

We say I have humility and I thirst for righteousness so I‘m doing pretty good!

These are not eight separate and distinct groups of disciples, some of whom are meek, while others are merciful and yet others are called upon to endure persecution.

They are eight qualities of the same group of people who have experienced the new broth in Christ.

If you were to extract the DNA of a ChristIan, these 8 characteristics would define that person.

These are the standards for Christain righteousness; not what we hope to become, but of what we already are.

Think about the fruit of the Spirit which Paul explains flows out of our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

These eight beatitudes describe the way these ideal for every citizen of God’s kingdom.

Unlike the gifts of the Spirit which he distributes to different members of Christ’s body in order to equip them for different kinds of service, the same Spirit is concerned to work all these Christian graces in us all.

There is no escape from our responsibility to covet them all

There is a close relationship between our happiness and holiness

Notice what begins each verse word in these 9 beatitudes: ‘“Blessed”.

The word in Greek is makarios and it means happy, fortunate, privileged.

The word means to experience divine favor upon your life.

To be blessed means to enjoy favorable circumstances

We look a these as a list of difficult rules, but we ought to be looking at the pathway to blessedness

The man who experiences divine favor is not spiritually arrogant

The man who is privileged is gently, and humble

The man who experiences God’s blessings in his life is merciful and a peacemaker

Tied to every quality is the promise of blessing and happiness

The most miserable man in the world is not a lost man, it is a saved man living out of fellowship with God

It’s one who completely ignores these beatitudes and lives life like the rest of the world

It’s someone who believes that these beatitudes are not for us and never even attempt to live them out.

Instead of having mercy they retaliate or hold grudges

Instead of being poor in spirit, they do not think they need God

Instead of practicing humility, they are prideful

If we are not living holy lives, our quality of life will be greatly affected

The current state that we live each and every day will be misery

The way that we live greatly affects our state of joy.

Now lets go over each one and talk about them briefly.

We are not going to study these in depth, but I would highly recommend that each of you do.

They will bless your life, and they will give you life.

Matthew 5:3-12 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the gentle (meek humble), for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Those who are poor in spirit: means to understand our desperate need of God

We are all sinners, under the wrath of God, and deserving nothing but the judgment of God.

We have nothing to offer, nothing to plead, no way to buy ourselves into heaven.

Listen to what Jesus said to the church in Laodicea, “You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”

(Rev.

3:17).

Do you know what His rebuke was of this church?

It was Lukewarm.

Like a hot bath that sat empty for about an hour and wasn’t yet cold, but was no longer burning hot.

Don’t let your flames burn down for the Lord Jesus.

We must never forget how hopeless we are without Him, and that we need Him like the ground needs the rain.

Those who mourn: This brings blessing because it shows contrition for sin

2 Cor.

7:10 “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

It is one thing to be spiritually poor and acknowledge it; it is another to grieve and to mourn over it.

When we come to the place where our sins produce grief and mourning we are living a blessed life.