Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His
disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying: 3 “Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they
will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you
when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against
you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad,
because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted
the prophets who were before you.
- Matthew 5:1-12, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.
Dear Friends in Christ,
Maybe it was a deliberate father-son or mother-daughter talk, perhaps on the subject of peer pressure. Maybe its importance was conveyed without any words at all, but communicated just as clearly as we observed the actions of those around us. Or maybe its weight was impressed upon us because of its failing either in our lives or the lives of others...
But somewhere along the line we have all been taught that character counts. Somewhere along the line we have learned that what we do on the outside is simply an extension of what we are on the inside.
Our text for today is from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In its entirety, this teaching of Christ takes up three chapters of Matthew (5-7). Our text is both the introduction and perhaps the most familiar part of it. Keying off of a Latin word for “blessing,” these opening words are best known as “The Beatitudes.”
It has been said that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in general and the Beatitudes in particular have the distinction of being at the same time both the best known yet the least understood words of Jesus. Which suggests a question: What are we to make of this series of blessings?
Some will say the Beatitudes are nothing more than pithy sayings or pious sentiments. They will say the Beatitudes enumerate a sequence of lofty but unreachable ideals, but apart from inspiring us, they have no real practical value for our lives.
But the fact of the matter is that these words have great practical value for us today. Because they are more than pithy sayings; they are truth. Furthermore, these words do more than inspire us; they define us. In them Jesus reminds us of who and what we are. In them, Jesus sets forth for us
As He tells us
“Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them...” In just a moment we are going to briefly look at the individual beatitudes. But before we do that, there is some important groundwork that is laid in these opening words. Pivotal to understanding everything that follows in the Sermon on the Mount is that Jesus was teaching “his disciples.” In other words, the Sermon on the Mount was intended for believers. It presupposes faith and cannot be understood correctly apart from faith in Jesus Christ.
We mention this because this is one of those sections of Scripture that “spiritually-minded” people like to use out of context. They see the Sermon on the Mount as a new code of ethics that may be used independently of one’s relationship to Christ. For example, the great Indian leader, Mahatma Ghandi, was well known for his teaching of passive, non-violent resistance against his enemies. When a Christian missionary asked Ghandi, who was not a Christian, how he had arrived at this point of view, he said he learned it from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
But as interesting – and in the long run, effective – as that may be, the fact is that Jesus wasn’t directing His words to the Mahatma Ghandis of the world. Certainly it is true, as St. Augustine put it, that “all truth is God’s truth,” meaning that the principles of God’s Word “work” even when they are embraced by a non-Christian society. But Jesus wasn’t merely offering a social blueprint for the betterment of humanity here. And He certainly wasn’t laying down rules for work-righteousness.
He was directing His words to saved-by-grace Christians. And what He does is describe Christians (us) for what we are now, what we will (under His grace) increasingly become, and what we ourselves wish to be out of love for Christ – so a watching world will know that we are His...
And what we are is summed up in the opening word of each Beatitude. We are blessed. In Him and because of Him, we are content, at spiritual peace with God, and secure in knowledge that we are loved. How in particular are we blessed? Let’s listen to what Jesus tells us...
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The poor in spirit are those convinced of their spiritual poverty; those who know they hold no leverage before a holy God. The poor in spirit are like the tax-collector in the temple that Jesus talked about, the spiritually unpresumptuous man whose simple prayer was: “God have mercy on me, a sinner.”
The poor in spirit are
blessed because “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Heaven is only for those who see and know their
need for a Savior from sin. Heaven is
open exclusively for those who truly understand and apply to themselves the
line from the beloved hymn, “Rock of Ages”:
“Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling... foul I to
the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.”
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” What do God’s people mourn? We mourn over our own sins as well as the sins of others. We live in a world which daily feels and exhibits the consequences of sin, and it makes us sad. There are days when we readily identify with King David’s words in Psalm 13: “How long, O Lord... how long must I wrestle with my thoughts and have sorrow in my heart?”
But we are comforted. We are comforted now in the knowledge of our full and free forgiveness. And we will be comforted forever in heaven where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” The meek are those who humble themselves before God because they acknowledge their utter dependence upon Him. As it applies to those around us, the meek are those who, out of love for Christ, are willing to suffer rather than inflict injury. The meek are those who are not insistent on their “rights,” but willing to go the extra mile because that’s exactly what Christ did for us. And whereas the world often confuses “meekness” for “weakness,” God does not.
How are the meek blessed? They will inherit the earth. Right now the earth and everything in it is ours because we have all the world has to offer: Jesus Christ. And in the future, when Christ comes again on the Last Day, we will reign with Him over the new heavens and the new earth that the Bible speaks about.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to rejoice in the righteousness that is ours through Jesus Christ. All our sins have been filtered away through the blood of Jesus Christ, and we are righteous in God’s eyes. And because are legally righteous before God, we want to live morally righteous lives to give Him glory.
We are filled with comfort and peace every time we hear the Gospel message. Every time we take Lord’s Supper we are filled with “the joy of our salvation.” And as we seek to live our lives to His glory we are filled with the satisfaction and contentment of pleasing our Heavenly Father.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Mercy is compassion for those in need. The Greek word indicates it is the way in which we respond to the pain, misery and distress suffered by those around us. The parable of the Good Samaritan comes to mind. The point is that those who have been shown mercy themselves will practice mercy toward others...
The promise that we “will be shown mercy” is not to suggest that we bring this blessing upon ourselves because we show mercy to others. It rather assumes that mercy is so inextricably linked with the Christian faith that we as true believers cannot help but practice it. And the blessed result of true faith is a mercy from God that extends throughout eternity.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” The pure in heart are those who find no greater pleasure than living their lives to the glory of God. In his characteristic earthy but always interesting manner, Martin Luther illustrates this point by contrasting moral purity with actual physical dirt. He puts it this way: “Though a common laborer, a shoemaker or a blacksmith may be dirty and sooty and may smell because he is covered with dirt and pitch... and though he stinks outwardly, inwardly he is pure incense before God” because he ponders the Word of God in his heart and obeys it out of love for Jesus.
Those who hearts have been cleansed by Christ will one day see God in all the purity and glory of heaven.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” Peacemakers are those who are at peace with God. As such, they seek to carry out God’s specific will in this area, which is to live at peace with their fellow man insofar as that is possible.
They will be called “sons of God” because living in peace follows the example of Jesus Christ, referred to by the prophet Isaiah as “the Prince of Peace.” We who have been the beneficiaries of peace will want to promote the practice of peace. In doing so, God is glorified.
“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.” These last statements are similar. They tell us that when we fly our moral flag and live out our Christian principles and do not cave into the influences and philosophies of a world which has an increasingly diminishing respect for God and His Word, we can expect to be called on it.
In the early centuries of the church that persecution sometimes took the form of torture or execution or exile. In our days the forms are more subtle, but no less real. You’ve no doubt experienced this. Maybe it’s the snide remark. Or the incredulous look. Or the conscious exclusion from a group or conversation because we refuse to go along with what we know is sinful...
When those things happen, Jesus reminds us that we are in good company. Thus it has always been and always will be for God’s people. But we can rejoice and be glad, because we know this is not the way it is always going to be. We have a reward awaiting us in heaven. A reward that we have not earned, but one that has been given to us by no less than the Creator of the Universe. Therefore we carry on, mindful of what lies ahead.
So... what does this text tell us? What do we learn from the Beatitudes? The message is this: We are blessed beyond measure. Why we are blessed is because of Jesus Christ.
But the Beatitudes also remind us that the call to be a Christian is also the call – and the privilege – to be distinct, to be set apart, to be “counter-cultural.”
And that takes us back to
our opening thought. We began this
sermon by talking about the importance of Christian character. In the text we’ve considered this morning,
Jesus tells us by virtue of the fact we are His, we already have it. And it is a blessing. A blessing which increases in strength and
witness as we stay connected to Him. A
blessing which we desire to increasingly manifest in our lives in order to “praise
God from whom all blessings flow.”
Having pondered these words, let this be our personal prayer: That God grant us the ability and strength to become more and more “beatific” believers. Amen.