Here is a familiar passage… It should bring
up a fairly vivid picture in your mind:
(Matthew 5:1-10) 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, saying:
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 sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (NIV)
Those words are familiar enough to most of
us that we just accept their relevance without question. Part of
what I am doing with these messages is digging beyond what we see
on the surface and trying to pinpoint some of the deeper, more
profound issues that were taking place.
This sermon on the hillside overlooking the
Sea of Galilee was early on in Jesus ministry. It was the first
sign that he wasn’t just going to be another run-of-the-mill Rabbi
who hashed over the same material in a new way. This new Rabbi was
an in-your-face Rabbi who had no problem with ditching generations
of sacred thought for new truth.
This is the same sermon where he said such
controversial things as:
(Matthew 5:13) "You are the salt of the
earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made
salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be
thrown out and trampled by men. (NIV)
(Matthew 5:20) For I tell you that unless
your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the
teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of
heaven. (NIV)
(Matthew 5:21,22) "You have heard that it
was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who
murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone
who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment….” (NIV)
(Matthew 5:27-28) "You have heard that it
was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who
looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her
in his heart. (NIV)
(Matthew 5:38-39) "You have heard that it
was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do
not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right
cheek, turn to him the other also. (NIV)
(Matthew 5:43-44) "You have heard that it
was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell
you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (NIV)
All of this should alert us that whatever
the Beatitudes are; they are not just some soft. cute little
sayings that we can teach out children in the generations to
come…In fact if you look at the whole message as a whole, they are
probably just as hard hitting and controversial as the rest of the
Sermon on the Mount… let’s investigate:
I. An Appropriate Message for the
Time?
All of us, over the last few months have
been absorbed by what has been happening on the world stage. After
September 11 we, almost to a person, felt like those responsible
for
taking the lives of 3000 innocent people
must be brought to justice and few of us even considered that we
should sit around a table and negotiate our response. When bunker
buster bombs fell on Al-Quaida and Taliban caves few, if any, of
our compassionate Christians hearts felt anything but
satisfaction. Justice had been served. These misinformed murders
had picked on the sleeping giant and the giant with one hammer of
her fist had squashed the maggots. ( Well, isn’t that how you
felt?)
Over the last six months we watched a drama
unfold in Iraq that brought about the end of Saddam’s regime and
when the first bombs fell and reportedly took out some of the
leaders of a murderous regime most Americans felt like the little
bully who beat up on his own defenseless people got what he
deserved.
When General Tommy Franks or Secretary Don
Rumsfield gave us a glowing report on the successes of the war the
message was very clear:
Blessed are the strong! Blessed are the
Triumphant!
Blessed are the armies who possess smart
bombs and Patriot missiles.
Blessed are the liberators… the conquering
soldiers.
Let me say something here. I may differ from
you in this view but this point is important to what I am about to
say. I am extremely proud of the strength of my country. I am
enormously proud of our men in uniform and the masterful job they
did achieving a military victory while at the same time showing
compassion for innocent lives. I rejoice in our smart bomb
technology…During WWII we leveled entire cities to get to the bad
guys hidden in the city, not so this spring.
However, for any of us to turn from a
decisive victory over our enemies, and look at phrases like love
your enemies;
if your enemy slaps you on one cheek, turn
the other,rejoice in persecution
It’s honestly hard to draw a correlation
between the two. One comes from men and women we greatly respect
for their professionalism in a sometimes evil world and the other
comes from One who taught 2000 years ago and was God in the flesh.
Which of them is valid? Both!
Which of them must be a valid part of our
lives today? Both…
Which of them has consequences on our
lives eternally?
What Jesus says!
When we as Americans wrestle with the truth
of Scripture, we try to make it apply to life as we know it; we
struggle to relate the timeless truths of the Bible to what we are
seeing and experiencing around us. (Pastor Oscar here today does
not see life from our world view…Almost no one in Africa or in the
greatest percentage of this worlds population reads the Bible
through the lenses we do) We unconsciously try to read the Bible
and twist Jesus and his teachings into an American mold……He
doesn’t fit.
For the
next few minutes try to think like a first century Israelite.
The first century Jews living under the
tyranny of Rome were very much like the Iraqi’s living under the
tyranny of the Bathe regime. For hundreds of years the Jews had
lived under horrible tyrants and while the tyrants changed from
time to time the humiliation did not. Roman rule was not at all
pleasant for them and after Jesus death things got worse and
worse. Within 30 years of Jesus resurrection Christians would be
routinely murdered, fed to lions, raped, stripped of all property.
The one possibility for salvation from this tyranny was for God’s
Messiah to show up. When he arrived, finally, the iron hold on
their lives would be broken, They would be set free from the
murderers and rapist who controlled their families lives.
That day, standing in front of them on the
hillside, was the one they were becoming convinced was that long
awaited Messiah. Finally the hardship of their lives would be over
and a theocracy with God as their only King would return.
They all gather on the hillside waiting
expectantly for the words that would lift their hpes to the
sky…..The Messiah starts to speak….
"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…..
Pardon me, I need to clean the wax out of my
ears, I must have misunderstood what the rabbi had to say. I
understood the Blessed part:
Blessed- makarios- supremely fortunate or
well off I must have misunderstood the rest of the sentence:
Supremely fortunate are those who have the
spirit of a poor person! Even to the oriental, middle eastern mind
this phrase was strange:
How supremely fortunate are those who have
had the most unfortunate lives!
If you had been sitting in the audience that
day when Jesus first delivered his Sermon on the mount you would
probably have left feeling confused or outraged, but what you
would not have felt was comforted. In our day it’s very difficult
to take the exact words of Jesus sermon seriously and not find his
words in direct conflict with the lives we are living.
Phillip Yancy was one of twelve
Evangelical leaders invited to the White House by President Bill
Clinton to determine why Clinton standing was so low among
Evangelicals. Yancy said he thought about what Jesus would have
said in such a setting and using the model of the beatitude came
up with this:
Mr. President, first I want to advise you to
stop worrying so much about the economy and jobs. A lower GNP is
actually good for the country. Jesus says in the Beatitudes that
the poor are the really lucky ones. The more poor we have in the
US the more blessed we are…theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
And don’t devote so much time to health
care. Let people die. You see Mr. President, those who mourn are
supremely blessed too for they will be comforted.
I know you’ve heard from what’s called the
“religious right” about the increasing secularization of our
country. Prayer is no longer allowed in schools, and protesters
against abortion are subject to arrest. Relax sir, Government
oppression gives Christians an opportunity to be persecuted, and
therefore blessed. Thank you for expanding our opportunities!
He said he decided not to use this approach…
How can Jesus Beatitudes apply to a society
who already have their beatitudes set up?
Blessed are the strong for they will inherit
the earth!
Blessed are the happy for they will have the
best lives!
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
a good time!
Blessed are those who look out for Number
One!
II. What in the World was Jesus
Trying to Accomplish with these Beatitudes?
A) Dangling Promises for the Hopeless?
Maybe
Jesus was just being a politician. You know how before the
election the politicians speaking to those who are without,
promise that if only they get elected the one without will soon
become the one with. Maybe Jesus starts out his sermon by
saying…”since you aren’t rich, and you’re oppressed by a world
tyrant, and your health is failing, and your face is wet with
tears of sorrow; I’ll give you a few nice phrases of hope to cheer
up your miserable lives”
Is that what is going on here? Of course
not! Jesus was the one person on earth who had already been in
heaven before he came here. He was the one person who knew full
well what would be waiting for believers when this life was over.
He was the only one who had the power to make promises to people
on this earth with the full authority of the Trinity behind him!
Those who mourn will be comforted!
The meek will inherit the earth!
The spiritually hungry will be filled!
The pure in heart
will see God!
Jesus was here to establish God’s kingdom
and God’s kingdom would consist of people with these
characteristics…period!
To the first century Jew or to the 21st
century American, or the 17th century Brit or the 23rd century
Canadian….regardless of the century or culture, Jesus is setting
the standard for the kind of inner attitude that a person must
have to be a growing part of his kingdom.
The fact that much of the American
church has grown comfortable and wealthy and can’t even relate to
the humble conditions Jesus spoke of doesn’t for a moment change
the truth of His message.
I met with the Pastor of a large
church in this area and told him of our church plans and pointed
out that part of our parking area would be grass to save money on
paving and he was horrified. He said, you can’t expect people to
park in the grass, When they go to Walmart they park in a paved
lot and if you want them to come to your church you will have to
provide at least what Walmart provides. It’s the price of building
a church in America. My response was that if a person cannot park
in the grass to come to church they are probably not the best kind
of people to fill a church with anyway.
When Michael Jordan retired (one of
the times) a man named Jerry Reinsdorf said…He’s living the
American dream. The American Dream is to reach a point in your
life where you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do and
you can do everything that you do want to do!
I. You, Us, we strive for this,
because this is what it means to live a good life in America. But
when we try to line this mentality up with Jesus words the holes
just don’t line up.
The one who dies with the most toys
wins -vs.-
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven
B) Present Promises with Future
Fullfillments
Make sure we all understand exactly
what Jesus opening statement says:
He did not say blessed are the
poor; for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven….
He said blessed are those who have
the spirit of a poor person…
Why is having the spirit of a poor
person so important to Jesus? Do I have that kind of spirit? Would
Jesus find more acceptance in Belglade than in Miami Beach?
Poor in Spirit- The mental
disposition of a beggar
Why would Jesus single out the
attitude of a poor person as being an important element to
entering the kingdom of Heaven?
1) The poor know they are in urgent
need of help!
2) The poor rest their security not
on things but on someone other than themselves!
3) The poor have no exaggerated
sense of their own importance!
4) The poor can distinguish between
needs and wants.
5) The poor can wait, because they
have acquired a dogged patience born out of depending on someone
else.
6) The fears of the poor are more
realistic because they already know they can endure great
suffering.
7) The poor can respond to the call
of the Kingdom with abandonment because they have nothing to give
up to move forward.
1) The rich know they are in urgent
need of help!
2) The rich rest their security not
on things but on someone other than themselves!
3) The rich have no exaggerated
sense of their own importance!
4) The rich can distinguish between
needs and wants.
5) The rich can wait, because they
have acquired a dogged patience born out of depending on someone
else.
6) The fears of the rich are more
realistic because they already know they can endure great
suffering.
7) The rich can respond to the call
of the Kingdom with abandonment because they have nothing to give
up to move forward.
1) I know that I am in urgent need
of help!
2) I rest my security not on things
but on someone other than myself!
3) I have no exaggerated sense of
my own importance!
4) I can distinguish between needs
and wants.
5) I can wait, because I have
acquired a dogged patience born out of depending on someone else.
6) My fears are more realistic
because I already know I can endure great suffering.
7) I can respond to the call of the
Kingdom with abandonment because I have nothing to give up to move
forward.
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