Intro: Professor Henderson’s Dream–The Thimble Crown
In this dream a little lady in front of him in the line receiving rewards from Jesus, got a large beautiful crown. He thought because he was a minister he would receive even a greater one, but instead was handed a thimble crown. When he woke up, he decided to give his all for God and those who sat under his ministry were truly blessed.
The Greatest Rewards
Matthew 5:1-12
background: we all know the sermon on the mount to be the greatest sermon ever preached. It starts with a series of statements on how to be blessed in life. In verse 12 we find that you will be rewarded if you are willing to be rejected and despised for the sake of the gospel. Let’s look at how you can live your life so that you will be blessed by God.
V.3- you are blessed when you realize your spiritual poverty. The people with the greatest blessing are those who recognize they have the greatest need of the power of God in their lives. They aren’t proud or haughty in their religious experience, but live totally dependent on the strength given to those who need help in the time of need.
Today you are blessed if you don’t think yourself a five star Christian, but someone who is still pressing for the prize. Today you are blessed if you get up each morning and ask the Lord to help you through the day. You are blessed when you realize it is not by might, or power, but by My Spirit saith the Lord. You are truly blessed when you say the Lord is rich, and I am poor, and I rely on Him for daily bread.
V.4- blessed are those who cry over their sins, for they shall be comforted. This is not just those who mourn over loses in their life, but those who have a deep revelation of how their sins cost others, themselves and what sin did to Jesus. You are blessed when you hate your sin as much as God hates sin. You are blessed when you recognize you are a sinner in need of the grace of God. Instead of being hard and cold, you are soft, meek and lowly in your heart. Instead of being boastful of your goodness, you are aware of all the areas that Jesus isn’t finished with in your life.
V.5-blessed are the meek– gentle–in this proud, arrogant world, those who are truly blessed are those of a quiet, meek spirit in the sight of God. Those who don’t have to be first, those who don’t have to be number one, those who are satisfied in the achievements of others. Those who never get offended by being over-looked. Those who don’t have to be applauded for everything they do. Those who only want His recognition, so they won’t lose their reward.
V.6-you are blessed to be hungry and thirsty–Jesus says you will never be filled until you first have a holy appetite for God. You are blessed when you dig into the scriptures as the Bread of Life. You are blessed when you want to spend time with God. You are blessed when you write the song, I’d rather have Jesus than anything. You are blessed when the spiritual is more important than the physical, or emotional. You are blessed when you love Jesus more than houses or lands, mother or father, job or activities. Until He is Lord of all, He will never be Lord at all.
V.7-you are blessed if you are merciful–if you give people mercy, you receive mercy. If you forgive others, you will be forgiven too. Jesus doesn’t want his people to be people of payback. Jesus doesn’t want his people to seek out and destroy. He wants his people to render mercy, and justice and truth. You are blessed when you give someone something they don’t deserve. When we get to heaven, it will be mercy that rewrote our lives.
V.8- blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Sincere, honest, truthful, loyal, just some of the qualities of those who are pure in heart. Our goal as Christians is to be Christ-like. We are to be shining lights of the light, we are to be a reflection of the Father, we are to be holy as He is holy. It is a blessing to be more like Him every day. When he found us we were marred and scarred, and filthy and dirty. He took us, lifted us, clean us, so that he can use us.
V.9-blessed are the peace makers–we are lovers not fighters. We don’t fight to get our way. We bring peace where there is confusion. We are mediators in conflict, not contributors. We like to see people kiss and make us. We like to see things settled. We want peace in our lives, peace in our homes and peace in the church. You are truly a child of God when you are looking to be a blessing not only receive one.
V.10-12- blessed are you when someone says terrible things about you because you are a Christian. You are blessed when people do you wrong and you still love and pray for them. You are blessed when you are like a lamb among wolves, and you still at his table in the midst of your enemies. You are blessed when you lose things here to gain things there. You are blessed when your best friend or only friend is Jesus, because He is the truest of all friends. You are blessed even if the world says you aren’t a success, because your goal is higher than the stars and your destination is not of this world.
Close: Ted Turner said, Christians are losers because their leader died on a cross, and He didn’t need anyone to do that for him. He said, he wanted to go to hell, because going to heaven would be boring, (meaning Christians are boring) he said all of his friends were going to hell, so he didn’t want to miss out on seeing them. I am sure if you ate where Ted Turner eats, drive what he drives, lives where he lives, and could go to the places he travels, you would say, I’ll take it. But I would rather be blessed with the poor in Spirit, I would rather be blessed with the meek and lowly. Take this whole world, but give me Jesus. For you to be blessed, (happy) you must kill the material God of this world, the pleasure God of this world, the mean, vengeful God of this world, and take up your cross and follow Christ. It make seem like a hard way, it may seem like a heavy load, but it will be worth it all, when we see Christ.
