The Beatitudes

Okay. Take your seat. And if you have a bible, would you like to open it up to Matthew Chapter 5? And we're gonna be reading verses 1 to 12. Of Matthew chapter 5.

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountain side and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them. He said, 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 that in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Thanks, Ben. If you'd like to keep Matthew 5 open, that would be be really helpful.

Welcome to those who are joining online. My name is Tom Sweetman. I'm the assistant pastor here. And this evening, we are beginning a brand new series in the in the beatitudes. And although we are breaking these up, and each Sunday evening, we're going to be looking at just 1 of the beatitudes.

They are a they are a package deal. So it's not as if, you know, 1 Christian can be can really work on being mournful. And the other can work on being meek and the other must cultivate poverty of spirit, and we can all have 1 each. It's a bit more like the fruit of the spirit. In that they come as a package, and it's all things for all people in the in the kingdom of God.

And tonight, we're focusing On this first 1, a bit of an introduction to the series and this first 1, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom. Of heaven. So let's pray together. Father, we do pray that you would help us as we begin this new series. We thank you for the sermon on the mountain for these beatitudes.

Which to previous generations perhaps were so well known. And we pray that as we look at them, that you would help us not merely to understand what these things mean and what sort of life Jesus is describing and to go home unchanged, but we pray that you would cultivate these beatitudes in our lives and in our hearts. We pray that you would help us to see What a happy thing it is to be ruled by King Jesus and to live as part of his perfect kingdom. And we ask it in his name. Oh, men.

1 writer says that the beatitudes are the essence of the essence of the Christian life. So if the sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 to 7 is the essence of the Christian life. Then the beatitudes are the essence of the essence. It's like a source on the hob, which you're reducing and boiling down and concentrating. This here in Matthew 5, 1 to 12, is the real flavor of Christianity.

It is the essence of the essence of the Christian life. And yet, the beatitudes are also the marks of a complete loser, aren't they? Can you imagine this person winning love island? Can you imagine a person like this advertising anything at all. Can you imagine any government standing up at the beginning of its term, and basing their policies on on these beatitudes.

Are these the kind of school friends and university friends that are worth having? Pore in spirit. They don't believe in themselves. There's no assertiveness No aggression, no self confidence, no sexual freedom. They're mournful.

They're meek, they're mocked. And forgetting the world, Even if you're into religion, these are the marks of a loser, aren't they? What sort of religious person would want to be like this? At least religion, offers you a chance to feel better than other people. That's what it delivers, doesn't it?

A kind of separation between you and the dregs of the society. It allows you at least to be able to look down on other people who are worse than yourself. The beatitudes don't even deliver that. And yet, Jesus says that this way of life is blessed. That is what the word beatitude means.

It is a blessed life. And so the question is, what does Jesus know that we don't? Let's have a look together. This is the first point verse 1 and 2, the sermon begins. The sermon begins.

Have a look at verse 1 again. Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, or more literally, and he opened his mouth. 1 writer 1 writer says that that, he opened his mouth, is the phrase of the great occasion. Jesus sits down.

He takes the official position of a teacher. Sometimes he would teach as he walks along. Sometimes he would teach as he ate, but here he sits down in the official position, and he doesn't just say stuff He opens his mouth. And so to use a very pathetic comparison, This is the difference between a government briefing when Boris is standing there up the front surrounded by his advisors. And those rarer times, when he sits down and he looks at the camera, and he opens his mouth.

And in those moments, we are meant to understand We're meant to believe that something weighty and significant is coming next. Jesus sat down, and he opened his mouth. And what adds to the sense of great occasion here is the links with the old testament. So you might remember when Moses received the law from God, where was he? He was on a mountain.

Verse 1, seeing the crowds Jesus went up on a mountain. In the book of Exodus, why was the law given to God's people? So that the Israelites could live it out and be a light to the gentiles. This sermon was given, so that disciples may be salt and light in the world. Even the structure of this chapter is taking us back to exodus.

Have a look at how the law begins. In chapter 20 verse 1 to 2 of Exodus. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt out of the land of slavery, You shall have no other gods before me. So what is the order of things there? Law first, If you do this, then I'll save you.

That's not the order, is it? Salvation first, I brought you out of Egypt, then law. And in Matthew 5, who is Jesus speaking to? Well, others can listen in, but this is a sermon for disciples. In chapter 4, Jesus had already said that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, so repent.

It's really simple. That is how people like you and I come into the kingdom of God. Jesus calls us, We hear his call. We repent of sin, believe in him, come into his kingdom, and then law. And then there's a life that follows the call.

So in Exodus and here in Matthew, God is not saying, look, world. You've already got a moral code, which you grew up with and you inherited from your parents. And all I'm asking you to do is just exchange it for this 1, and then it will be thumbs up from God. This is a new life for those people who have been already called into the kingdom of God. And so you see verse 1 and 2 are just bursting with history.

Everything about this introduction says, great occasion. Something weighty is coming. Decciples need to listen well. And what does he say? Well, after beginning the sermon, he says, blessed.

Bless. Bless are. That's the second point. Now, if you can, if it's possible, given the last 13 months or so, Try to think of a time when you felt something close to bliss. Bliss is that rare combination of happiness and rest.

Happiness and rest. 1 definition gave this example. The sheer bliss. I haven't got it there. The sheer bliss of an afternoon at the spa.

It probably didn't mean the supermarket, but the other type of smile. Perfect rest, perfect happiness, bliss. That's a little bit like the word blessed. A kind of perfect happiness and perfect rest. The only problem with that example is that whatever spa I happen to be in becomes the source of my bliss.

And that's not a very good thing because I'm not always in the spa. In fact, I'm very rarely in a spa. In fact, I've never actually been to a spa. In fact, the ones I have been to in Turkey and Belarus, were were anything but bliss? It was like being flayed alive with a hot stick.

I mean, it was nothing perfect red nothing perfect happiness. It was the opposite of that. So the spa being the source of bliss is not very good because it's not a permanent solution, is it? I'm never in there. It's a fleeting escape.

It's a passing moment. It's not for real life. But this blessedness is. Jesus is not talking about a roller coaster, up and down feeling. It's more like the rock beneath the roller coaster.

It is a foundation of happiness, which doesn't flow from this world, which changes all the time and disappoints us and fails us. It is a thing which flows from God himself. The gospel we're told in 1 Timothy is about the glory of the blessed God. The gospel is about the father and the son and the Holy Spirit who are perfectly happy and perfectly peaceful in themselves forever And Jesus is saying that in this gospel, disciples share in that life. That they have a divine rest, a divine happiness which flows from God.

Into the lives of his people, a happiness and a rest which never fails and never disappoints us. So bliss is quite good as a definition, as long as we remember that the source of it is God himself and not the spa. Perfect happiness perfect rest. But how exactly do disciples enter into that condition? Enter into that life.

Well, let's look at the next bit of the sentence. Third point, blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, it's worth knowing that this poor person isn't somebody who just lacks extra stuff. This is a person with nothing. It's more like the words destitute.

They have absolutely nothing at all. They are in every way empty handed, and find for themselves no help in this world. They are destitute. Okay? So, is that who Jesus is talking about, somebody who is destitute in this world.

Well, it may definitely include them But verse 3 says, blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, who are they? Well, have a look at these verses from the book of Psalms. Psalm 40, verse 17, but as for me, I am poor and needy, may the lord think of me You are my help and my deliverer. You are my God.

Do not delay. Psalm 34 verse 6. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him. He saved him out of all his troubles. And interestingly, when the old testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek, they translated this word for poor, with the word that Jesus uses in Matthew chapter 5.

So, the poor person from the Psalms and the poor in spirit in the beatitudes are the same person. And what is it that makes them poor? It's not the health of their bank balance, is it? It's their self assessment. These are the people rich or poor who believe that there is no help for them on earth.

These are the people who understand who they really are before God. They are sinners. They are sinners before a holy God, and they need his help. The great hymn writer top lady, he understood it in his hymn rock of ages. Nothing in my hands I bring.

Simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. Fow lie to the fountain fly. Wash me, savior, or I die.

That's the spirit. Literally, that that's the poor in spirit. And as we're gonna see throughout this series, knowing who we are before God is the key to every beatitude. Humility is like the soil in which all of these others will grow. But let's say we do realize that.

We know who we are before God. Why is it a blessed thing to know that? Jesus says, rest of the sentence. Fourth point. Blessed are the poor in spirit.

For theirs is the kingdom of God. Have a look at these words from amazing grace. We're gonna spring from 1 great hymn to another here. You'll know them very well. Amazing grace how sweet the sound.

That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found was blind. But now I see. Of course, in order to sing that, you need both sides of the story, don't you? Feeling lost before God is a really good thing, because you're not deluded.

You know you're lost. You know you need help. You know you're nothing before God. But, the blessedness can only come. When the lost person has been found.

Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost and then stayed lost, praise the Lord, doesn't work, does it? We know that we need both of these things, lostness and foundness in order to sing. Amazing grace. 1 writer puts it this way. There is this bliss, which comes when a man recognizes his deepest need and discovers where that need can be supplied.

Why is it a blessed thing to know your own poverty? Because then, if we come to Jesus, empty as we are except for our sin, we will find a king with open arms. We find 1 from heaven who came exactly for those kind of people. For 1 who died to bring us into the kingdom of heaven. To be there, Jesus says, under the rule of Jesus, waiting for his return, living his way and enjoying his love.

That is the life of perfect, happy rest. That is heavenly bliss. To know who you are, and to know who God is, and to know that he loves us despite us. And is willing to bring us into his kingdom. If we know our poverty and bring it to Jesus, we are blessed.

And so look, if you're not a Christian, perhaps watching online, it's just it's time to give up the search, isn't it? This is not a moral code, something that Jesus is saying just swap what you already think for this and you'll be fine. This is an invitation to see your sin to see your poverty and to come to the Christ who loves to fill empty people. And then for Christians, the key here in terms of application is to know that this beatitude is not just a 1 off sermon. This is a way of life.

This is something that we must live in every day. Great reformer Martin Luther came up with this phrase to describe a Christian. I don't know how to pronounce it in Latin, but it means that a Christian is at once or at the same time justified and a sinner at once justified, and a sinner. And that is what it means to be poor in spirit. It is to wake up every single day and to know that there is a rock of happiness beneath you, that there is something true of you at the beginning of the day That will be true of you at the end of the day.

And that whatever happens and whatever you go through in that day, you are justified in Christ. When your head leaves the pillow, and then when it hits the pillow, you are justified in Christ. Bless it, are you? Christian. And yet, we also say, Lord, I don't have what it takes to live for you I've been awake all of 5 minutes, and I already feel the pull.

To depend upon myself. I already allow angry, hostile, impure thoughts to fill my mind already. I've been up 5 minutes. And I know lord that if left to myself, I am going to fall dramatically today, because I know something of what my own heart is like. Help me.

Help me. To live in this beatitude is to believe both of both of those things every day, at once justified and a sinner. So the question is, what steps can you take? To grow that in your life. And lastly, we'll close with this.

Just think how countercultural this is. This life. You see, at the beginning, I said that these were the marks of a loser. And to some people, that may be true. But to live this way is superb evangelism.

To live this way is an incredible thing in our world. The world just cannot understand this. The religious just cannot understand this. They don't get it. It confounds the wisdom of the wise, Are you trying to tell me that you win by admitting defeat?

That you gain strength by admitting that you're weak, that you become righteous by trusting somebody else. That you are the sort of person who doesn't go on about yourself all the time, and yet you know who you are. You are the sort of person who goes through tough times, but from somewhere there is a gladness in you. That you speak of yourself as poor, and yet you talk as if the treasures of the world belong to you. It stands out, doesn't it?

And some people, Jesus says, are gonna hate that kind of life but others will be drawn to it. 1 writer says, all around There is the desert with its sand and its thirst and its agony of body and spirit in the oasis there is shade and shelter, peace for the weary traveler. The poor in spirit are not perfect, and some won't like them. But in a world of agony and thirst, others are gonna come and say, now Where do I get that sort of bliss? And with that, we can point away from ourselves to Jesus, who welcomes empty sinners and fills them with a heavenly bliss.

Lessett of the pouring spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Let's pray together. Father we pray that you would cultivate this life in us that you would help us to see who we are before you, that we would be like That disciple in the boat, who went close to Jesus said depart from me, Lord, I am a sinner. That we would understand ourselves to be fallen and lost and needy, and that we would cry out to you for help. We thank you King Jesus that your kingdom is all about receiving these kind of people.

And we thank you that there is a great happiness and a great rest for those who will come to you. And father, for those of us who are very familiar with these words, forgive us that we so readily disobey them, that we so readily go back to our default, which is self belief and self confidence and judgmentalism and bragging in who we are and self justification rather than this poverty of spirit, not a fake humility not a false poverty, but not a pride, something else, something different, something of your kingdom, a true, poverty of spirit, which knows its sin. And yet knows that the savior loves us nonetheless. Father, we pray that as we live out this life, there would be something distinctive about it. And we pray that others would look on and that you would help them to just see something different, and that they would want to find out what sort of belief, what sort of person could produce that in our lives.

And we asked these things in Jesus' name, amen.