Beatitudes part II, Sermon on the Mount

Psalm 1; Mathew 5:6-9

9/14/03

 

  1. Introduction
    1. Second sermon in three on Beatitudes and second in twelve on the Sermon on the Mount.
    2. Dan did a spectacular job of introducing the series last week
    3. One of the key points Dan made regarding these Beatitudes is that they are a description of the character of a citizen of the kingdom. While the Sermon on the Mount will certainly include both prescription and proscription, it is at its root description – a paradigm, a rubric, primary axioms.

                                                              i.      You see, I write policy at the college. In fact, I am the high king of what is right and wrong. What I have quickly realized is that lists of prescriptions and proscriptions never covers it all, in fact most usually provides a loophole for the legalist – “It did not say that I had to do this or NOT do that.” So we begin in terms of character and then write broad policy that encompasses the kind of lifestyle that stems from this type of character. Does that work for you? This is not the exhaustive orthopraxy teaching of Jesus, but is certainly a description of and the resultant expectations of the Christian person.

    1. Another introductory point affirmed the already-not-yet characteristics of the gospel and in this case especially these beatitudes - I want to emphasize the NOW-ness of any future possibility.
    2. Let me add that t these “blessings” are meant to evoke more than sociological, philosophical, theological admiration, but rather they are a direct challenge to the natural human. Herein is described a person wholly contrary to natural inclination. This does not describe a good person; this describes a new person, a different person, a free person in Christ and under the influence of the Spirit. This is a person alert to their own depravity and utter dependence on Christ.
    3. Finally, in points of introduction, I would like to share an interesting little fact – a habit I fear I have inherited from my father. In this study I am leaning heavily on the foundational work of Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, former minister of Westminster Chapel in London. And in the front cover is written to George from Mom and Dad. That is George Watson, who not long ago gave to me many books from his and his father’s theological library. So written just beneath that inscription is given to me by George Watson, June 22, 2003. Isn’t that cool?
  1. Prayer.
  2. Beatitudes 4,5 ,6 & 7 – Matthew 5 6-9
    1. Would you open your Bibles with me?
  3. Blessed are those who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness for they will be Filled
    1. Just a quick reminder about form – each begins with a character description of those who are genuinely blessed –happy, the ones who should be congratulated, followed by a resultant promise.
    2. So in this case, the one who is truly happy, the one who we could congratulate as “getting it” is the one who Hungers and Thirsts for Righteousness.
    3. I think in this context in is interesting to note that they do not hunger and thirst for Blessedness. In other words, this beatitude is an antidote to the venomous ideology that this is an 8 step plan to get happy. This is an eight part description of true happiness, which only comes about by divine transformation. You cannot simply adopt these principles and get started like a weight loss plan – this is solely Kingdom territory

                                                              i.      None of this comes by natural inclination. This is not just Christian version of generally accepted social doctrine.

                                                            ii.      Consequently, I am perplexed by the humanist/idealist love for this text. The whole text goes out of the way to proclaim the unqualified bankruptcy of humans and the unequivocal need for transformation from natural inclination!

    1. So how many people do you know who are seeking blessedness, especially Christians? Jesus here argues hat happiness comes only when one seeks not happiness but righteousness.
    2. Now, this Beatitude, all of the beatitudes must be held in context with each other. The one who hungers and thirst for righteousness does not do so because of the great spirit and wisdom, because they are noble and always seek what is good –the super Christian. It is clear that the person who hungers and thirsts does so because of their great need. They recognize the hopeless blackness of their own hearts and mourn their sinful nature.
    3. As for Hunger and thirst I think that perhaps we are just too wealthy to understand, and we will just have to imagine. This pictures a person starving. One who has nothing and consequently yearns, plots and plans all day long about how they will get food.  As JN Darby is noted for saying, when the prodigal son was hungry he ate husks and pig slop, when he was starving he went to his father.
    4. They hunger and thirst for Righteousness, not Justification, Peace has been won. Rather they hunger to live without sin. That constant burden, that great yoke around our necks. They yearn for the process of Sanctification. That act by which the natural inclination is killed by the surrender to the Holy Spirit.

                                                              i.      Knowing self they yearn to be free of self. They seek and Emancipation Proclamation from themselves! They strive for, they imagine, they plot all day how to achieve it. They press on to the goal and the anticipate freedom from selfish, self-centered inclination!

    1. The result is that they are filled. The promise is that Holy Spirit will be active in your life. You habits will change. Your life will change. Notice now, that I did not say much about your natural inclination changing. I do not discount the idea, but I am more inclined to affirm habit change. You create and stand on righteous habit.

                                                              i.      The funny think about this filling is that it only creates a greater appetite for more! As thus the race is run, and we press on toward the prize and we believe that in that day, this work will be completed in us.

  1. Blessed are the Merciful for they will be shown Mercy
    1. Again, perhaps redundantly, I must point out the meaning of this beatitude inside the progression of thought. If I may borrow from Dr. Lloyd-Jones.

                                                              i.      “I am poor in Spirit, I realize that I have no righteousness; I realize that face to face with God and his righteousness I am utterly helpless; I can do nothing. Mot only that I mourn because of the sin that is within me; I have come to see, as the result of the operation of the Holy Spirit, the blackness of my own heart. I know what it is to cry out, ‘O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me?’ and I desire to be rid of the vileness that is within me. Not only that, I am meek, which means that now that I have the true view of myself, nobody else can hurt me, nobody else can insult me. I have seen myself! And even my greatest enemy does know the worst of me. I have seen myself as something truly hateful, and it is because of this that I hunger and thirst for righteousness. I long for it. I have seen that I cannot create or produce it, and that nobody else can. I have seen my desperate position before God. I have hungered and thirsted for a righteousness which will reconcile me to God and give me a new nature and life. I have seen it in Christ. I have been filled. I have received it all as a free gift.

                                                            ii.      Does it not inevitably follow that, if I have seen and confirmed all that, my attitude toward everybody else must be completely and entirely changed?”

                                                          iii.      In other words, if a, b, c and d are true, then “e” is a natural outcome. Those types of people will be merciful! I am inclined to think that all of the following verse 6 are natural outcomes. Verses 3, 4 & 5 establish the human condition -need. Verse 6, sets the new paradigm for desiring God, the remainder seem to be descriptions of the resultant character of those people right up until the promise of persecution :~)

                                                          iv.      Happy are the Merciful, for they have been shown great Mercy and may consequently dispense great mercy

                                                            v.      Responsibly, I must add that there is no causal relationship here. It does not read if you show mercy you will receive God’s mercy. This promise must be held in context with the entirety of the revelation – “Mercy for work” would be contrary to every other message of the gospel. This sentence merely reads mercy comes from mercy as much as violence comes from violence.

  1. Blessed are the Pure in Heart for they will see God
    1. Pure here meaning undivided, single minded, unfettered. What then is a pure heart, one without question or problem? Well, that would contest everything we just covered. Rather, the pure heart is one unswerving committed to the knowledge of natural depravity, utter ruin and the need for Redemption through Jesus and preservation by the Spirit!
    2. This has always been a heart issue and not a praxis issue. As Dan declared at the beginning of this series, the gospel message is one of inside out effect, not outside in correction. The Pharisee has the unfortunate privilege as standing as the model of one seeking to create the perfect exhaustive list of behavior code
    3. The pure in heart see God because the see themselves and erect no barrier for seeing god as holy redeemer.
  2. Blessed are the Peacemakers for they will be called children of God.
    1. Well, first off a number of Jews would have been disappointed to hear this one. This would have been further confirmation that Jesus was not going to fulfill any hopes for the military Messiah.
    2. Notice further that this is not a passive position. This does not say blessed are those who do not rock the boat. Is says blessed are the peacemakers, Peace –producers. They are those who seek to manifest peace and desire to see it in individuals, groups and Nations. The peacemaker does not rest in the status quo, but sees with “new eyes” the need for supernatural peace.
    3. AGAIN, The Peacemaker knows themselves, so they abandon personal justice and seek rather authentic justice.
    4. The peacemakers will be called “children of God.” In other words they will be decisively associated with God as demonstrating one of his primary attributes –PEACE. God created the garden of Peace, man brought enmity.
    5. God in his righteous justice should condemn us all to eternal suffering but instead he sent Jesus to bring Shalom between God and his creation.
    6. The Peacemakers will seek to manifest, create and produce Peace just as their Father does, and will accordingly be called children of God.
  3. Really?
    1. So, there they are, four more descriptions, four more promises and the things that sticks in my brain is REALLY?  Ok, perhaps I am admitting too much. This could be one of those dangerous admissions, so hear me before you storm out of the church and tell folks that Christian does not believe some “Red Letter” stuff in the Bible!
    2. You see, I think the whole of this Sermon on the Mount asks us to actually subscribe to what he describes. Not merely ascribe or agree but actually believe, ingest and practice.
    3. Let me proceed carefully, very carefully. . .
    4. It costs nothing to hear this kind of thing on a Sunday morning, in this context, nod our heads, and it all sounds good, and we grunt and agree, then we go on about our business. Well, let me tell you that what is included in these verses is really revolutionary. As I stated before these attributes far exceed human ability to achieve, they are only recognized inside divine intervention. They all in fact stand in stark contrast to human inclination.
    5. Herein lies the great lie of sin and the glorious paradox of the Kingdom and her citizens. I am arguing that sin at its core is selfishness, self-service and self-concern. And sin is constantly holding out there the promise of happiness; it is conversely consistently unable to deliver it. Sure, it can deliver temporary relief from pain but it cannot deliver happiness – blessedness. This is a paradox. Why doesn’t doing what I want result in happiness?!! Seriously?
    6. I have observed a whole world of people serving self, either living unreflective and shallow lives or sinking deeper into misery.
    7. So, here comes the gospel, and it says, recognize yourself, seek God - serve God and other and when you do…then you will be happy.
    8. Here there is a kicker. To be happy you actually have to do it!  None of these beatitudes read Blessed is the one who believes in . . . but rather blessed is those who ARE such and such.
    9. What we have then are three categories of people

                                                              i.      One- Those who serve self and are either shallow, quietly unfulfilled or downright desperate

                                                            ii.      Two-Those know what they ought to do and serve others but really desire to serve self.

1.      truly the most miserable

                                                          iii.      And Three – Thos who Subscribe to this description and in understanding their manifest depravity, seek God and serve others- and these people – these people are Blessed – They are happy – They see God and are called his children.

  1. So, you must ask yourself, examine your own heart. Do you really subscribe to what he has described? Do you disagree, does this strike you as legalism or religious silliness, do you begrudgingly agree, or do you wholeheartedly cast yourself upon God, hunger and thirsting for his righteousness to be manifest in you and thus receive this paradoxical happiness? If you do - welcome to the upside down world of Jesus Christ – If you don’t – reconsider - there is only one right answer.