1/30/2005 Matthew 5:1-12 It Is Good To Have A Savior
1/30/2005
Text: Matthew 5:1-12
Title: Blessed are you on account of Jesus
Please join me in prayer. Eternal God, pour out your Spirit upon us that we might be aware of your presence in our midst, that we might be attentive to your Word, and that we might be faithful always to your way, through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray. Amen
This morning I want to take a look at our Gospel reading, which is commonly titled, “The Beatitudes”, which is Latin for blessing. An appropriate title, for the majority of the verses start with blessed. In our reading we find Jesus on a mountaintop with his disciples around him. He is teaching them what it means to be a follower of his. We too, are gathered around him this morning, as we hear his words to us.
Over the years as I have searched for a clear understanding of the meaning of the Beatitudes, I have from time to time asked people, “Just what do the Beatitudes mean to you?” I have gotten a wide range of answers from; “I do not have a clue,” to “it means that God will reward me if I do those things he lists as being blessed.”
Since almost everyone answered in some way that the Beatitudes means God will reward a person if they live their life the way he tells them to live it, that would suggest to me that most Christians understand the Beatitudes as some type of law, sort of an addition to the Ten Commandments. The problem is that they really do not know if Jesus is talking about being that way spiritually or physically. Maybe it is a combination of both. For most people I think the Beatitudes are just plain confusing. They just do not know what Jesus is talking about.
Do not feel bad, if you too are somewhat confused by Jesus’ words to you today. You might be confused, but that is better than those that do not believe in Jesus, for they think the beatitudes for the most part are just plain foolishness.
You see, when an unbeliever hears that they are to be poor in spirit or be meek, they cannot accept that, for it just does not make any sense. That is not the way to get ahead. To get ahead you have to be strong and have self confidence, be willing to use people once in awhile.
To an unbeliever being blessed when you mourn, that is foolishness. You have to be happy all the time. If you cannot be happy on your own, then you find something to make you happy, whether it is drugs, alcohol, or a relationship, or the latest New Age book.
To be in mourning all the time, that is just plain silly. Although I would say that when you look at how some Christians go around all the time with those sad, solemn faces, you might get the idea that if you are Christian you have to be in mourning.
Then there is that business of being blessed when you seek after righteousness. They might go along with that, although they are not thinking of the righteousness one gets through Jesus. It is more of a looking righteous and doing righteous things.
For an unbeliever, being merciful for the most part is a good thing, as long as it does not get in the way of what they want to do, or causes them any problems. Being pure in heart, that is okay, but only if you are a young child. For if you are pure in heart as an adult, you are probably naïve and going to be taken advantage of. You see, the Beatitudes to an unbeliever are just plain foolishness.
So it is okay if you are a little confused about the meaning of the Beatitudes, for at least they are not foolishness to you. It is my prayer that when I am through, you will have a much better understanding of just what Jesus was talking about when he says you are blessed when you do what he listed.
Please take your service folder and turn to page 7 so you can follow along. The first thing we notice in verse 1, is that Matthew was making an important statement about the Lordship of Jesus when he tells his readers that Jesus went up on a mountain top to deliver his message. This would have had great significance for those who were living at the time the Gospel was written, for delivering a message from a mountaintop would mean that Jesus was God. You see, throughout history, when God wanted to say something to his people, he spoke from a mountaintop.
We also notice in verse 1 that his disciples came to him. That means that what Jesus taught that day was meant for those that follow Jesus as their Savior. I wonder if Jesus’ followers that day, like us today, might have also been a little confused as to the meaning of the Beatitudes. Maybe they too understood Jesus’ words as law, you know, do this and I will bless you, which would mean of course, if you do not do these things I will not bless you.
I think that they too, like most of us gathered here at his feet today, probably believed that the Beatitudes are law. The problem in hearing the text as law, is that although a command from Jesus’ teaching might motivate you for awhile, it will not last, for as much as you might love Jesus, and desire to serve him, you will at some time fail, and there you will stand, condemned before God.
Every fourth Tuesday of the month, the Elders and I get together and study a particular Bible text, usually the one I will be teaching on the next Sunday. This past week as we studied the text for today, we made two great discoveries.
The first thing we discovered, was that what seems like commands are really not commands at all, but Gospel, in that Jesus has met all of them already. I will show you how we came to that conclusion in a minute. The second thing we discovered, and I think that everyone that was there would agree, was the most exciting discovery, is that we found that the Beatitudes gives us a wonderful example of a person coming to faith, having repentance, receiving forgiveness, and living a sanctified life.
I am going to start with our second discovery first. You might never have noticed this, but starting with verse 3, you see that being poor in spirit is when the Holy Spirit has moved a person to recognize that they are in fact nothing without God. That is hard to take for some people, but it is true. For until you realize that without faith in the Triune God, you are not a complete human being. It does not make any difference how respected you are, how intelligent you are, or how much money or possessions you own, or how you personally feel about it, you are not a complete human being without faith in the Triune God.
In verse 4, you see that when the Holy Spirit has led a person to realize his or her lostness without God, they fall into a state of mourning, for they have come to the realization that all they have ever depended on, whether it is their self, others, or things, will not make them right before God, for he demands perfection and, in fact cannot accept any thing less than perfection. That is a tall order, an impossible order, for us human beings to meet.
In verse 5, you see that because the person has come to the realization that they are nothing without God and that there is absolutely nothing they can do to make themselves right before God, they have no choice but to rely on Jesus’ saving work on the cross. This is a rather humbling experience, one that guarantees meekness. A person can not be proud and still wholly depend on Jesus for making them right before God.
In verse 6, 7, and 8 notice the description words have changed to action words, like hunger after, and thirst after, being merciful, being pure in heart, and being a peacemaker. Oh, you do not do those things all the time? Well I do not do them either and therein lays the problem.
In fact, it is sort of like, “We have met the enemy and it is us”. You see we can not be, nor do those things by ourselves. That brings me to the other exciting discovery we made. You see we discovered Tuesday evening that the Beatitudes are describing Jesus and his saving work on our behalf. He is the only one that has ever perfectly humbled himself, perfectly mourned for his creation, was perfectly meek as he willingly let others take him as a lamb to the slaughter, who was perfectly righteous, perfectly merciful, and perfectly pure in heart.
Since we are joined with Jesus in our Baptism the beatitudes are also describing our lives. His blessedness has become our blessedness. He has transferred us from a questionable dark future secured by our own accomplishments, to a bright light filled future, guaranteed by his divine acts. We are now living, in a sense backwards, for we have moved from death to life. God treats us now, as if his kingdom has already come in all its glory. All of that is foolishness to the unbeliever, but wisdom to you and I, as we follow our Lord Jesus. What a difference a Savior makes! Amen
Text: Matthew 5:1-12
Title: Blessed are you on account of Jesus
Please join me in prayer. Eternal God, pour out your Spirit upon us that we might be aware of your presence in our midst, that we might be attentive to your Word, and that we might be faithful always to your way, through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray. Amen
This morning I want to take a look at our Gospel reading, which is commonly titled, “The Beatitudes”, which is Latin for blessing. An appropriate title, for the majority of the verses start with blessed. In our reading we find Jesus on a mountaintop with his disciples around him. He is teaching them what it means to be a follower of his. We too, are gathered around him this morning, as we hear his words to us.
Over the years as I have searched for a clear understanding of the meaning of the Beatitudes, I have from time to time asked people, “Just what do the Beatitudes mean to you?” I have gotten a wide range of answers from; “I do not have a clue,” to “it means that God will reward me if I do those things he lists as being blessed.”
Since almost everyone answered in some way that the Beatitudes means God will reward a person if they live their life the way he tells them to live it, that would suggest to me that most Christians understand the Beatitudes as some type of law, sort of an addition to the Ten Commandments. The problem is that they really do not know if Jesus is talking about being that way spiritually or physically. Maybe it is a combination of both. For most people I think the Beatitudes are just plain confusing. They just do not know what Jesus is talking about.
Do not feel bad, if you too are somewhat confused by Jesus’ words to you today. You might be confused, but that is better than those that do not believe in Jesus, for they think the beatitudes for the most part are just plain foolishness.
You see, when an unbeliever hears that they are to be poor in spirit or be meek, they cannot accept that, for it just does not make any sense. That is not the way to get ahead. To get ahead you have to be strong and have self confidence, be willing to use people once in awhile.
To an unbeliever being blessed when you mourn, that is foolishness. You have to be happy all the time. If you cannot be happy on your own, then you find something to make you happy, whether it is drugs, alcohol, or a relationship, or the latest New Age book.
To be in mourning all the time, that is just plain silly. Although I would say that when you look at how some Christians go around all the time with those sad, solemn faces, you might get the idea that if you are Christian you have to be in mourning.
Then there is that business of being blessed when you seek after righteousness. They might go along with that, although they are not thinking of the righteousness one gets through Jesus. It is more of a looking righteous and doing righteous things.
For an unbeliever, being merciful for the most part is a good thing, as long as it does not get in the way of what they want to do, or causes them any problems. Being pure in heart, that is okay, but only if you are a young child. For if you are pure in heart as an adult, you are probably naïve and going to be taken advantage of. You see, the Beatitudes to an unbeliever are just plain foolishness.
So it is okay if you are a little confused about the meaning of the Beatitudes, for at least they are not foolishness to you. It is my prayer that when I am through, you will have a much better understanding of just what Jesus was talking about when he says you are blessed when you do what he listed.
Please take your service folder and turn to page 7 so you can follow along. The first thing we notice in verse 1, is that Matthew was making an important statement about the Lordship of Jesus when he tells his readers that Jesus went up on a mountain top to deliver his message. This would have had great significance for those who were living at the time the Gospel was written, for delivering a message from a mountaintop would mean that Jesus was God. You see, throughout history, when God wanted to say something to his people, he spoke from a mountaintop.
We also notice in verse 1 that his disciples came to him. That means that what Jesus taught that day was meant for those that follow Jesus as their Savior. I wonder if Jesus’ followers that day, like us today, might have also been a little confused as to the meaning of the Beatitudes. Maybe they too understood Jesus’ words as law, you know, do this and I will bless you, which would mean of course, if you do not do these things I will not bless you.
I think that they too, like most of us gathered here at his feet today, probably believed that the Beatitudes are law. The problem in hearing the text as law, is that although a command from Jesus’ teaching might motivate you for awhile, it will not last, for as much as you might love Jesus, and desire to serve him, you will at some time fail, and there you will stand, condemned before God.
Every fourth Tuesday of the month, the Elders and I get together and study a particular Bible text, usually the one I will be teaching on the next Sunday. This past week as we studied the text for today, we made two great discoveries.
The first thing we discovered, was that what seems like commands are really not commands at all, but Gospel, in that Jesus has met all of them already. I will show you how we came to that conclusion in a minute. The second thing we discovered, and I think that everyone that was there would agree, was the most exciting discovery, is that we found that the Beatitudes gives us a wonderful example of a person coming to faith, having repentance, receiving forgiveness, and living a sanctified life.
I am going to start with our second discovery first. You might never have noticed this, but starting with verse 3, you see that being poor in spirit is when the Holy Spirit has moved a person to recognize that they are in fact nothing without God. That is hard to take for some people, but it is true. For until you realize that without faith in the Triune God, you are not a complete human being. It does not make any difference how respected you are, how intelligent you are, or how much money or possessions you own, or how you personally feel about it, you are not a complete human being without faith in the Triune God.
In verse 4, you see that when the Holy Spirit has led a person to realize his or her lostness without God, they fall into a state of mourning, for they have come to the realization that all they have ever depended on, whether it is their self, others, or things, will not make them right before God, for he demands perfection and, in fact cannot accept any thing less than perfection. That is a tall order, an impossible order, for us human beings to meet.
In verse 5, you see that because the person has come to the realization that they are nothing without God and that there is absolutely nothing they can do to make themselves right before God, they have no choice but to rely on Jesus’ saving work on the cross. This is a rather humbling experience, one that guarantees meekness. A person can not be proud and still wholly depend on Jesus for making them right before God.
In verse 6, 7, and 8 notice the description words have changed to action words, like hunger after, and thirst after, being merciful, being pure in heart, and being a peacemaker. Oh, you do not do those things all the time? Well I do not do them either and therein lays the problem.
In fact, it is sort of like, “We have met the enemy and it is us”. You see we can not be, nor do those things by ourselves. That brings me to the other exciting discovery we made. You see we discovered Tuesday evening that the Beatitudes are describing Jesus and his saving work on our behalf. He is the only one that has ever perfectly humbled himself, perfectly mourned for his creation, was perfectly meek as he willingly let others take him as a lamb to the slaughter, who was perfectly righteous, perfectly merciful, and perfectly pure in heart.
Since we are joined with Jesus in our Baptism the beatitudes are also describing our lives. His blessedness has become our blessedness. He has transferred us from a questionable dark future secured by our own accomplishments, to a bright light filled future, guaranteed by his divine acts. We are now living, in a sense backwards, for we have moved from death to life. God treats us now, as if his kingdom has already come in all its glory. All of that is foolishness to the unbeliever, but wisdom to you and I, as we follow our Lord Jesus. What a difference a Savior makes! Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 1:12 PM
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