Everything You Know Is Wrong, Part 1

Matthew 5:3–12 NIV

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

point one that we don’t understand:

The weak ones are the winners

At the beginning here, he says, blessed are the poor in spirit. Funny thing about that word - you know what it means? It means poor.

We say this means ‘humble’ or maybe ‘simple’ or ‘pure’ like later on. Or we come up with some fancy understanding and use it as a coded phrase to mean really whatever we want.

But this word, greek, πτωχός (ptoh-kos), it means ‘poor’ or ‘destitute’. There’s a particular emphasis in this word on this idea of ‘so impoverished that you have to rely on others for support’.

Does that…sound like OUR definition of spiritual giants? But it lines up. A few weeks ago we talked about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. A reminder:

2 Corinthians 12:10 NIV

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

This word weakness, in the greek, it means weak, sick, feeble, disabled.

And he continues on this at the beginning. He says, blessed is the poor - the kingdom of heaven belongs to them, blessed are those who mourn - they will receive comfort from God, blessed are those who are meek (THIS word means humble, or gentle) - they will inherit the earth.

So let’s paint a picture. Here’s the character:

A gentle person, who has suffered, and is totally dependant on God.

Totally dependant on God to the point of, not even being able to function without him in their life.

This seems pretty opposite the ideas WE have for the kind of triumphant person in the kingdom of God. They are bold, strong, loud, violent. They can shout out people with the best of them. Things go great for them.

Here’s the rewards:

They receive heaven and earth.

… that’s a big deal, right?

Second thing that we don’t understand:

The ones who give up are the ones who get

The next section, Jesus says, ‘blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness’.

This is a good one, and an obvious one. We long to see God do His thing. We work hard to see God’s rule on earth, and His standard in our lives and our churches.

He also says, ‘blessed are those who are merciful’. Later, he says ‘blessed are the peace makers’. He particularly says about the peacemakers, that they will be called Children of God.

Jesus is saying,

The path to His righteousness is mercy and peace

‘Children of God’ is the title we long for. So why is it that we don’t emphasize peacemaking? Jesus LITERALLY taught us, if you practice making peace, you’ll be called a child of God.

I see too many people in too many churches struggle with unforgiveness and meanness, when forgiveness and mercy are absolute cornerstones of the gospel we preach.

Lastly, he says ‘blessed are the pure in heart’. This one has an amazing promise - for they will see God. That is the highbar here folks.

But here’s the thing about these 4 ideas:

They are focused on giving up things

A life lived for righteousness forsakes earthly pleasures. A life of mercy passes on the opportunity for vengeance. A life of peace means a lifetime of passing up chances to push your ideas or desires above somebody elses.

And again, we PREACH this, but do we live like the best way to faith is about us giving up all the things we want for ourselves? Do we see a time where somebody does something that we don’t like, or that doesn’t bless us specifically, and we say, ‘yknow what, i’m going to strive for peace here, because I REALLY want to be called a child of God’.

True faith is sacrifice

Jesus modelled ultimate sacrifice, and we’re deceiving ourselves if we think we can get away with just simply inconvenience.

The last thing that we don’t understand in this section is this:

The right way isn’t the easy way or the now way

Jesus has a pretty interesting list here.

Blessed are you if:

you are persecuted

insulted

people falsely say evil about you

And I have to caveat here -

If you’re wrong, it’s not persecution - it’s punishment

1 Peter 2:20 NIV

But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

Persecution isn’t an automatic badge of honor. Sometimes, we’re persecuted for standing up for what’s right. Sometimes, we’re being justly punished for being mean people.

Following God is going to be tough. It’s gonna be unpopular.

But

Faith is not a method to prosper now

Jesus is pointed here - ‘great is your reward in heaven’. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a reward now - but it DOES mean that faith and following Jesus isn’t a slam-dunk method to prosperity now. We don’t follow Jesus in order to prosper now.

BUT

Faith is also not a method to popularity now

Jesus says here, persecution, like what happened to the prophets. The prophets weren’t generally persecuted by the israelites because they followed God - they were generally persecuted because they brought an unpopular message. The people wanted prosperity, but the prophets preached repentence.

Jesus here isn’t just saying, people will hate you if they hear the word Christian. He’s saying, when you do what i’ve asked you to do - and do what Jesus did - it’s not going to be popular. It’s going to be convicting, true, and powerful - but not popular.

But

There’s blessing from God later when we’re willing to go without now

When we’re willing to endure ACTUAL persecution for the sake of doing what Jesus told us to do. When we don’t let insults from other people define our worth, but rather look to Jesus to be everything that we need.

Peter says this too:

1 Peter 2:23 NIV

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

Trust is the key concept here. We’re willing to give up the here and now, because we trust the one we’ll meet face to face later. He says we’ll have a great reward - so we don’t need anything now, we’re good.

Jesus is there to be a better version of whatever we need in life

The truth is, whatever we pursue in life - comfort, a place to belong, meaning, safety, whatever - Jesus offers us a better version. Even life itself - our life now is temporary, but Jesus offers us an eternal one.

John 5:24 NIV

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

Maybe you’ve felt like the weak one, or the one on the bottom. Well, there’s blessing from God in our hard times, in our weakness - we just have to give our lives to him and trust him.