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Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:3-16
The Beatitudes: Coming to God in Need
We will be engaging in a study of the
Beatitudes that will encourage us to reexamine our lives to live
for His glory.
Introduction
The Beatitudes offer us a checklist
of sorts to see where our hearts are.
J. Vernon McGee states, “The
Beatitudes present goals which the child of God wants to realize
in his own life but he can’t do it on his own.”
Each of these blessings has an
attitude check for our hearts and a promise from God.
-
Blessed is privileged recipient of divine favor It does
not necessarily mean happiness in the sense that we may use it.
God is much more concerned about holiness than happiness. But
within the blessed-ness we will find much satisfaction. The way
goes against our natural inclinations though.
-
Grace by the Strong’s Concordance is “divine influence
upon the heart and its reflection in the life.”
3
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
- poor in spirit is lacking spiritual
worth – it is a spiritual bankrupt-ness – This begins a journey
of needing God – often times it is our salvation experience but
I think it entails more than that. For me it is an everyday
journey realizing that God is my source of life.
- It is the same condition found in
Revelation 3:14-19. This
was written to Christians. Sometimes we don’t even realize that
we get to this spot. It is seems so
easy to slip into the condition described in. Sometimes we don’t
realize that we are in need and are content to live in that
spot.
- Jesus gives several examples of
people who were spiritually bankrupt. There is the woman in Luke
7:36-50 who washed Jesus feet with her tears and dried them with
her hair.
- We have the tax collector in
Luke 18:9-14 who beats his chest
and says “God be merciful on me, the sinner.”
- In our brokenness, our weakness, and our inability is where
the grace of God is able to intersect our lives and give us much
needed help. Without Him we can do nothing
John 15:5
- We are to approach Him as children
Matt 18:1-4
- The result of this is the kingdom
of heaven – At very minimum this is God’s rule and authority in
our lives. As we approach this everyday we enter into the work
in which God is doing as well as His protection.
- Some will include the Holy Spirit
as part of the kingdom of heaven/God but that is another study
for another day.
4
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
- The word mourn is to experience
sadness as the result of some condition or circumstance
- There are many reasons to mourn and
this verse doesn’t address one over the other. When you tap into
what God is doing in your life is when you begin to mourn for
things that have not been mourned for before.
- We mourn for our sins – 2 Cor
7:5-11 – Godly repentance verses worldly repentance
- We mourn for results of wickedness
– Rational Response Team, Comments made by atheist about God or
even more recently about Jerry Falwell, even Sadam
- We mourn for loss (ours or others)
- Henri Nouwen stated about sorrow
and suffering “Whose cup is it? It is our cup of human
suffering. For each of us our sorrows are deeply personal. For
all of us our sorrows, too, are universal.”
- Jesus mourned many times but
probably the most extreme mourning came knowing what He was
about to embrace at the cross, the separation from His Father,
the curse of sins placed upon Him. But when He got up He was
comforted, knowing that He was in the Father’s will.
- This is a hard thought. But He will
be there comforting us. Isaiah 40:1 says “Comfort, comfort My
people.” in the midst of their circumstances. Psalms is also
filled with countless examples comfort in the midst of mourning.
He is the Good Shepherd that guides us. He is the Comforter who
comforts us.
-
Matt 11:28 Jesus encourages us
to come to Him…we do not have to do this by ourselves.
5
"Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
-
After we experience brokenness and mourning, it would be hard to
look at life’s circumstances the same again.
- This verse is humorous to me with
the definition. Gentleness here can partially be defined as not
being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance.
- We are children of the Most High
God adopted into His royal family, made to be priests and
ambassadors for the kingdom not by what we have done but by what
Christ did for us on the cross.
- If you look at the news in several
instances when Christians are politically active this gentleness
is not seen. We force our assertions on others.
- Jesus gives us an example of
gentleness in John 4 with the woman at the well and in John 8
with the woman who was caught in adultery
- Atheist in the hospital, Dogs while
running
- Inherit the earth carries with it
the same thought for the Israelites in the Old Testament.
However in our day it is a chance to spread the gospel and
advance the kingdom of God. I have heard of people doing this in
many various methods. One even decided he was going to become a
“Chaplain” of a restaurant he frequented.
6
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they shall be satisfied.
- Hunger and thirst – Many times my
wife will ask me if I want dinner and I usually reply that I
could eat – this goes much deeper than I can eat, much deeper
than a craving, but I hunger and thirst.
- As our body is dependant upon
natural substance, how much more is our spirits dependent upon
righteousness.
-
Matt 6:33 not only are we to
be hungry and thirst for righteousness, we are to seek it first.
- Righteousness is an inner gift of
change that comes from God and transforms us to His character.
- Richard Foster said this: “Inner
righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The
needed change within us is God’s work, not ours. The demand is
for an inside job and only God can work the inside. We cannot
attain or earn this righteousness of the kingdom of God; it is a
grace given.
- The satisfaction comes only from
God. The verb is a passive verb which means that we cannot feed
ourselves.
7
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
- Merciful in the Greek
is defined about being concerned about people in their need.
- Society has created an “all about
me” culture that goes even into many churches today. It isn’t
about bringing God glory or helping people in need (both
physical and spiritual), it is how am I blessed, or how do we
grow our church.
- Matthew 25 paints a good picture of
how we are to show mercy by feeding the hungry, clothing the
naked, visiting the sick and those in prison.
-
Philippians 2:3-4 also gives
the attitude of one who is merciful.
- In turn, God will grant us mercy
and have compassion on us. Combined with the previous verse of
seeking His righteousness, God promises in Matt 6 to take care
of our needs.
8
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
- Pure is also the same word for
clean used several times in discussion with the Pharisees in
which they were only concerned about being clean and right on
the outside
- Jesus however gives much thought
about being pure of heart. Shortly after this verse He gives a
discussion of “You have heard it was said that “outer action”
but I say to you “Inward attitude”
- Bonhoeffer wrote “Who is pure in
heart? Only those who have surrendered their hearts completely
to Jesus that He may reign in them alone.”
- God knows our hearts better than we
know them and it is through our disciplines that we allow God to
show us what lies within.
- We can fool ourselves and others
but cannot fool God
-
John 14:21 mentions love,
obedience, and disclosure. It is at this time when we can enjoy
His presence.
9
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of
God.
- Peacemakers are those
who endeavor to reconcile persons who have disagreements
- The two parties in this case is God
and those who do not know Him.
Romans 5:10-11 says we were
His enemies before Christ reconciled us to Him
- 2
Cor 5:18-20 has given us the
ministry of reconciliation but this can only be done effectively
once the pervious items in the beatitudes have been done.
- As a result we will be called sons
(or daughters) of God. There are two types of children. The
first are those that are children because of bloodline or
adoption in which carries all the benefits of being children.
The second is those who look or act like their parents.
- 2 Cor 3:18 states that we are being
transformed into the His image and I am sure you have heard the
story of Mal 3:3 in which God is mentioned as a refiner of
silver and He knows the silver is refined when He can clearly
see His face in it.
10
"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11
"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and
falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
12
"Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in
the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
- In the movie XMen Wolverine is
hesitant to join a side and therefore hesitant to do battle.
However we have chosen sides and the world is our enemy even
though we do not fight against flesh. We must remember that we
don’t fight against flesh but we are engaged in battle.
- God does not mention that we are to
escape persecution but instead promises us His kingdom and
heavenly rewards and tells us to rejoice.
- We do not do things for temporal
glory but for His eternal glory
- Our persecution in America is there
from certain people but cannot compare to what is happening in
other parts of the world and throughout history.
13
"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become
tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good
for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by
men.
14
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be
hidden;
15
nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on
the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16
"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see
your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
- A few notes to follow the beatitudes. It is interesting to me
that after the list ends Jesus goes into this passage.
- In Gen 12, God tells Abraham that He will bless him and make
him a nation and out of the blessings other nations will be
blessed. Likewise our blessed-ness is to be poured out onto
others (even as many had suggested)
- Salt is both a preservative and enhances taste. The light is
not a blinding light.
- In America, Christians blame the world for being ungodly.
However they are dead and in darkness. You can’t blame dead
things for being dead but it is the salt’s job to preserve. You
can’t blame the darkness for being dark but instead blame the
light for not illuminating.
- In the end our entire lives, the way we think and act should
be to glorify God.
Conclusion
This checklist consists of inward journeys and outward reactions
to help form community. I believe that it is cyclic, meaning
that instead of a stair-step approach of here I have this step
down pat what is next.
Internal
External
poor in spirit
mourn gentle
hunger & thirst for
righteousness
merciful
pure in
heart
peacemakers/persecuted
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