Christian Character - The Beatitudes

 Rev. Will B Dunn started to preach the beatitudes. "Happy are those... Money can't buy happiness. Money can't buy laughter or love. What if I offered $100 not to love your mom or dad?" The congregation got silent. Little Sally stood up. "How much not to love my sister Anna?" <sigh> Rev. Will B Dunn is wrong from the start. Blessed doesn't mean happy. Happiness depends on what happens. Blessed doesn't. It means God approves. He's shining His face on you, regardless of what happens. Very different! The beatitudes are a staircase. Each steps up into kingdom character. In each beatitude, they & theirs are intensive. They alone attain the blessing. It's theirs alone. Let's look at Mt 5:1-12. Who does Jesus teach? His 1disciples. Us. 2Jesus began to teach. Remember what the Father said at Jesus' transfiguration? Listen to Him! Let's do! To enter God's approval, how do we start? 3Blessed are the beggars in spirit, for theirs alone is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who know they're spiritually bankrupt. Those who confess needing a Savior. The 1st stairstep is humility. Step up. Realize our poverty. Our need. Mk 10:15: we enter only as needy children. Start there. Humility's blessing? The KoH (KoG). In Christ, it's theirs alone. Just admit (confess) our spiritual bankruptcy, & it's ours. Admit our spiritual need, & we'll see the next step up. 4Blessed are those always mourning, for they alone will be comforted. Remember the times we really messed up. Times we thought we were strong & fell. Our moral failures. All our sins. Our sin. Take an honest look. Tell me you haven't started mourning with me. As we mourn, look what Jesus says in Lk 18:10-14. Mourn with that tax collector, & we're forgiven! Mourn, & instantly we're comforted. Will be comforted is future only in sequence. One more thing. Comfort is a Greek verb form of paraclete. Mourn our sin, & we'll be "Holy Spirited." He comes alongside. Immediately! He frees us from sins' guilt (unlike unbelievers). It's real comfort! To reach the next stair step, realize our poverty of spirit. Keep mourning for our sin. As we do, we'll see the next step up into Kingdom character. 5Blessed are the meek, for they alone will inherit the earth. We think the most powerful are blessed. Jesus says we don't understand power! Meek isn't weak, cowardly, timid, shy, "nice," spineless, insecure, unsure, or peace at any cost. Meek = gentleness under great self-control. Velvet iron. Tender steel. Like Jesus. He's meek. Our all-powerful God chose to stay on the cross. The meek alone inherit the earth. Co-heirs with Christ, they'll reign with Him, forever! Are we meek? Saying so isn't meek. Rather, what we do when someone calls us a filthy sinner. Are we strong enough to stay silent? In His trials, Jesus could've unmade his foes. He was silent. Meek. Start by confessing our spiritual bankruptcy. Take a step up & mourn for our sin. Receive His Spirit's forgiveness, comfort & meekness (His fruit). We'll then see another step into KoG character. 6Blessed are those who keep hungering & thirsting for righteousness, for they alone will be filled. More than any other way, spiritually we become what we eat. In our spiritual poverty, are we parched & starving for righteousness? When Jesus regenerates us, He fills us with His righteousness. We work it out by the way we treat others, especially the poor, disadvantaged, & oppressed. As we keep working it out, & we'll get more & more filled. Yet as righteousness fills us, our hunger for it increases & intensifies all the more! Jesus gives us the menu, the hunger, the thirst, our fullness, & more hunger. As we lean into hunger & thirst for righteousness, the next step up into kingdom character will appear. Confessing our spiritual bankruptcy. Mourning all sin-others' & ours. Humbly meek. And starving for righteousness. We're ready for the Spirit's next work in us. 7Blessed are the merciful, for they alone will be shown mercy. Keep on giving compassion to the miserable & the wretched. Forgive all who sin against us. Release all bitterness. In each way we are merciful, we'll be shown mercy. Not words. Action. If someone's car dies, do we say, "Sorry"? Or do we pass a hat for them? Mercy plays "Joseph" to forgive brothers who sold him into slavery. Mercy is compassion in action. God's true children are merciful. The merciful alone will receive mercy. Only those who forgive will be forgiven. The mercy we give is the proof we'll receive mercy. Confess spiritual bankruptcy. Mourn all sin. Humble & meek. Parched for righteousness. And giving mercy everywhere. Each step up up into kingdom character enables us to see the next step. And now? 8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they alone will see God. (In Mt 15:19-20, Jesus says our impurity comes from our hearts.) Pure? Clean. Inside & out. Devoted. Unmixed. Focused on God alone. One heart, mind, soul, will, & all we are. (Dt 6:5, love Him!) But how? Confess we're spiritually bankrupt. Keep mourning all sin, being humble & meek. Parched for righteousness. Merciful. Practice! If that's us, cast ourselves on Jesus, & He'll make us pure. Focus on Him, & He purifies us. Stay focused, & we'll see His face ever more clearly. As Jesus purifies us, we'll see His face more & more clearly. We'll also be able to see the next step up into kingdom character. 9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they alone will be called sons of God. We'll make shalom. Not just keep it. Why? Jesus made peace between humanity & God. He's also made peace (shalom) in our hearts. If we're God's sons (& daughters), we will make shalom with each other. We'll pursue health, wholeness, & well-being for others. As we climb that step of shalom-making, we'll see the next step up into kingdom character. And it's a big step. As Christ transforms our character more & more into His, the world won't like it. The world persecuted Jesus. And as we become like Him, guess what? 10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs alone is the KoH. Why is kingdom character persecuted? Poverty of spirit? No way. The world worships the self-sufficient, not the poor in spirit. What about the repentant heart mourning sin? The world never wants to be reminded of sin. Gentle meekness with strength not to stand up for self? To the world, meek is weak. Famished & parched for spiritual things? The world lusts for what it can touch & taste. Hunger for the spiritual is revolting. The merciful who give compassion & forgiveness? To the world, that's an unwelcome rebuke. Those with pure focus on God? The self-focused world feels convicted in their presence. The world hates them. And that peacemaker who won't settle for cheap or counterfeit peace? Wage peace & you'll incur the world's wrath. 10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs alone is the KoH. How righteous? Set our hearts on Christ, & in Him practice love, truth, grace, & mercy for others. (Not just the sins we refrain from doing. Nor just the righteous acts we do.) Notice that the blessing is same as for confessing spiritual bankruptcy. Why? The last step brings us to a new level for confessing our spiritual bankruptcy. The beatitudes are a continuous staircase into Christ's character. The Holy Spirit enables us to climb the staircase. Each time we reach the last step, it's on a higher level than before. And we arrive again at the 1st step, a new level of confessing our spiritual poverty. Take each step up with Christ. As we do, we'll keep climbing into kingdom character. However, this last step, learning how to be persecuted is a big one. So, there's a double blessing. How should disciples suffer persecution? Rejoice. 11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you & falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. In Jn 15:18, 20, Jesus says, 18"If the world hates you, ...it hated me first. So 20Remember: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they'll persecute you also. That raises a tough question. If the world isn't persecuting us, are we really His disciples? If so, Jesus says we've entered the blessing. So 12aRejoice & be glad. Why? 12bGreat is your reward in heaven. If we've been counted worthy to enter Christ & His suffering, it's an eternal blessing. We'd never exhaust the Beatitudes. And this sermon is already full. But we need to end with a story. Samuel Rutherford, 1600-1661, was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor. In 1639, he was arrested & jailed in Aberdeen for his faith. From his prison cell, he wrote his most influential letters. In one, he wrote "I never knew so much of Christ's love by my 9 years of preaching, as He taught me in Aberdeen by 6 months imprisonment." One of the most influential preachers of his day, he suffered for Christ. Humble & meek, he accepted it. He hungered & thirsted for Christ's righteousness so much that he counted suffering a light thing. Look what he wrote. "Christ's cross is such a burden as sails are to a ship or wings to a bird." Merciful like Christ, he wrote no harsh words against those who persecuted him. His heart's purity shows in the epitaph on his tombstone. "Acquainted with Emmanuel's love." Rutherford's character? Like Christ's. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said Rutherford's letters were the closest to inspiration that can be found in merely human writings. Want to see the beatitudes embodied? Like Rutherford, study Christ. Focus on Him. Listen to Him. Practice what He teaches. He's the author & perfecter of our faith. Christian Character: Beatitudes - Matthew 5:1-12 Page 1 of 1