Sermon on the Mount: Life in the new Kingdom

The Beatitudes: Blessed Are The Poor.

Matthew 5:1 “Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.”

Who are the crowds?

Matthew 4:23-25 “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.”

These are the people that had heard of Jesus and come to him because of what He could do.

Heal diseases and sickness

Those who suffered with various illnesses and afflictions

Those who had seizures, paralytics, demonics

vs. 42 - And He Heald Them

And people from All over came to see him

Who is in your crowd?

Do you know some people that could fall into one of these categories?

It’s ok if people come to see Jesus because they hear about what He can do.

That he can restore and heal…. It’s these people that experienced what Jesus could do that are about to hear his Kingdom Manifesto

Who are the Disciples?

In this context, the disciples are not just the 12, but all of these we have mentioned before.

Disciple = Learner

Not all disciples were believers in Matthew 5. Judas was in this crew. In fact, many people would decide that following Jesus cost to much.

John 6:66 “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”

When we read the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) we can’t always equate the word disciple with Believer.

Jesus has a large crowd that have come near because of what he has and can do, now, Jesus is abou to teach them, with authority, what it means to be part of His Kingdom.

Matthew 5:2 “And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:”

He’s going to reveal that following him is much more than what they get from Jesus.

Jesus is going to lay out the character of those in the Kingdom. Their thoughts, attitiudes, and actions.

His Sermon on the Mount begins with what is famously known as “The Beattitudes.”

You know, the Beattitudes aren’t just some ideal or abstract thing that Jesus is trying to describe.

These eight sayings are a sketch of the type of personwho is ready to possess, or rule over, God’s Kindgom in company with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is about to tell us what he proclaimed in Luke 4.

Luke 4:18-21 ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”” (A quote from Isaiah 61:1-3)

Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.”

Listen: These Eight Blessings are meant to be beauty instead of ashes, and joy instead of mourning.

Let’s look at these eight Beatitudes as a mirror to examine ourselves this morning.

Blessed: What is blessed?

Academically, the English word, “Beatitude” comes from the Latin word for “blessed,” beatus. The Greek word translated “blessed,” makarios, referrs to a happy condition.

A Happy condition that results from a new relationship with God.

Tony Evans - Our culture talks a lot about being blessed. It becomes almost equal with being lucky or some type of chance. People today have a lot of Money, Fame, Health, Prosparity… and they will say, I am blessed.

Do you remember the story of the temptation of Jesus? It’s in the previous chapter here in Matthew.. Might be worth a look this morning!

Let’s look at the last temptation of Christ in Matthew 4.

Matthew 4:8-10 “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ””

Posessions, wealthy, “being fortunate,” do not equate with being favored or accepted by God.

In Fact, next time we thing about using the word “blessed” we might want to ask where did that blessing come from?

Consider what Paul says is blessed in Romans.

Romans 4:7 ““Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;”

Romans 4:8 “blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.””

Let’s turn to Jesus and see how our savior defines blessed.

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

To be poor in spirit is to recognize our unworthiness to stand in God’s presences and that we depend completely on Him for Mercy and Grace.

Ps. 40:17 “As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!”

Ps. 69:32-33 “When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive. For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.”

Prov. 16:19 “It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.”

Prov 29:23 “One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.”

Isa. 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;”

Are you broken and poor?

I’m not talking about, can you pay the light bill?

I mean, have you seen and felt your wickedness and broken condition against the backdrop of a Holy, Loving, Just, and Merciful God.

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

That means you.... and me.

Here’s the deal…. I want everyone to track with me for a moment.

It’s easy to think you’re not that bad… especially when we start comparing ourselves to others.

If we aren’t careful we start soundling like the Pharasee who prayed as he entered the temple.

Luke 18:11-12 “The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’”

Instead, God calls us to recognize our need for him.

Luke 18:13-14 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.””

Most of the early church theologians considered Pride to be the root of all sin.

Augustine, Ireaneus, John Cassian…. All these men had a common idea that at the root of sin shares a common problem. Pride.... Which in many ways is simply expressed in idol worship.

Thing about it for a moment. What’s the 1st commandment?

Ex. 20:4 ““You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

Can I meddle?

One of the things I want for us here at Harvest to find a place where we can be authentic.

Why?

1 - I want to break down our idols.

2 - I want us to expereince freedom and healing.

James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

See, when we are concerned about what others think… it get’s into the weird spiral.

For example…. If you’ve thought… I can’t let people at church know what’s really going on in my life… they’d… “Fill in the blank.”

We find ourselves on this slippery slope… We start to worship the idol of what other people think.

But, it’s even more sinister than that… becasue, we aren’t just worshiping what others think, but we are worshping their image of what they think of us...

Which, brings us to a place where we are worshiping the imiage of ourselves.

Have you ever considered the bookend of the 10 commandments.. The relationship of the first and last commandment?

Ex. 20:4 ““You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

Ex. 20:17 ““You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.””

The fist step to living in this Kingdom that Jesus is building is to recognize your utter dependance and need for him.

To Avoid the Sin of comparrison, justifying our lack because we percieve ourselves as better than others….

To Find ourselves broken over our sin, and yet somehow in possession of something far greater than we deserve.

“‘Poverty in spirit’ is not speaking of weakness of character (‘mean-spiritedness’) but rather of a person’s relationship with God. It is a positive spiritual orientation, the converse of the arrogant self-confidence which not only rides roughshod over the interests of other people but more importantly causes a person to treat God as irrelevant.”

Listen - Don’t put a question mark where God put a period.

The idea that we need to recognize our need for Christ isn’t a suggestion, but a requirment for entering into the Kingdom.