A Beatitude For When You Are Upset With God

MATTHEW 11:1-15 “A BEATITUDE FOR WHEN YOU ARE UPSET WITH GOD”

A) There are several beatitudes in the Scripture!

* Those that we are most familiar with are the 9 Jesus delivered in His sermon on the mount.

* “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

* “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”

* “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”

* “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

* “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

* “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

* “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

* “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of ...”

* “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil

against you falsely, for my sake.”

B) There are other beatitudes that Jesus gave:

* Luke 11:28 “Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”

* Luke 12:43 “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.”

* Matt.11:6 “And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.”

C) We call them Beatitudes because of the word “blessed!”

* The word basically means “happy” or “blissful.”

* It speaks of an inner peace, an inner bliss, an inner happiness and joy!

D) In our story we see a man that was in need of inner joy and peace!

* We see the great John the Baptist ... But when we look at him in this story we see that his faith

was bordering on doubt and heart was sinking into discouragement.

* Yet in the low moment of his life, Jesus sent him a message, a beatitude, that served to bring an

inner peace and joy.

* Let’s look at John the Baptist in the lowest moment of his life and the beatitude Jesus sent him ...

(1) A MAN COMMENDED BY THE WORDS OF JESUS!

* There are certain things for which we should be thankful and for which there should be a deep

appreciation.

* I read about a class assignment in which 4th grade students were to write a short paper on

“Things I Am Most Thankful For.”

* One fourth grade boy wrote, “I am most thankful for my glasses ... They keep the boys from

punching me and the girls from kissing me.”

A) One area in which we should be most appreciative is those special people God allows to

cross our paths and touch our lives!

* There are certain people that deserve our praise, honor, and recognition.

* What is distasteful is someone bragging on themselves ... That is nothing less than pride.

B) I heard about a preacher that said to his wife one time, “You know honey, there’s not many

great preachers in our day.” * She replied, “And there’s one less than you think.”

* Proverbs 27:2 “Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not ...”

* Some people deserve recognition, praise and honor!

* When you look at our text we see John honored and recognized by Jesus! * Jesus said in v.11 ...

* John 10:41 says, “John did no miracle,” yet Jesus said that all that had been born, there was no

greater than John.

* Clarence Macartney said, “If praise is to be measured by the lips which pronounce it, then never

was man so praised as was John the Baptist.”

C) I want to say that the only commendation we should seek or desire is a heavenly

commendation! * If God cannot commend us, then it matters not who else does.

* People get upset if they don’t get recognized, but I want to say that your concern should not be

what others say about you, but what God says about you!

* George Whitfield said, “If I please Christ, it matters not what others don’t say ... If I please not

Christ, it matters not what others do say.”

D) When Verdi the Italian composer of operas produced his first opera in Florence, at the

completion, the crowd stood to their feet and cheered!

* Yet his eyes were fastened on the face of one man in audience (the great Rossini).

* It mattered not to Verdi whether the people in the hall were cheering him .......

* All he wanted was a smile from the master musician!

* I had rather have the smile of God on my life than the smile of men!

(2) A MAN CONFUSED BY THE WAYS OF JESUS!

* Our story finds John the Baptist in prison.