This sermon was delivered at Holy Trinity, Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland on Sunday the 29th January 2017; Holy Trinity is a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.
The readings for today are:
Micah 6:1-8 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 Psalm 15 Matthew 5:1-12
Please join me in a short prayer from Psalms 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. Amen.
Introduction.
The phrase, "Man's inhumanity to man" is known to us all, but it was only recently that I found out that it was first documented in a poem by Robert Burns called, “Man was made to mourn”. It was a Dirge of course, written in 1784, but it was possible that Burns reworded this from a similar quote from Samuel von Pufendorf who wrote, "More inhumanity has been done by man himself than any other of nature's causes."
And we all know this to be true, … look at the Holocaust alone, absolutely horrible, … the atrocities were beyond comprehension and so I would hate to think that man (or woman), has all the answers, even though some claim to have, … however, that is why I find it refreshing to hear 1st Corinthians 1:18 this morning which read, “For the preaching of the cross, to them that perish, is foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God”. I love that verse and I will tell you why, … it tells us that we are on a journey, … a special journey with the one and only God. ... And this is very different to the words of any other religion such as Buddhism, Sikhism, Muslimism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Paganism and any other ism’s you can think of, … including Judaism and own our Old Testament’ism which are all very similar in what they set out to do.
… And that is to get their God, … (who ever he is), … to acknowledge and bless them, and even look after them when they die. … How? … By … their own good works and charitable deeds. Yes they are all very similar, they all say that you must do good things, for their God to bless them.
But Christianity is completely different, … no other religion comes close to our New Testament, because no other religion had a saviour who lived on this earth as we do, … and died in our place as the sinners we are, … he died instead of us, but by doing so, he has changed our very outlook on life from all these other religions.
And this is summed up in Philippians 3, verses 8, 9 & 10, and I paraphrase, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered, … and do count them but dung, (dung, you heard right), that I may win Christ, … and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, … but that which is through the faith of Christ, … that I may know him, … and the power of his resurrection”.
Those verses tell us is that all our good works, … all our charitable deeds are counted worthless before the Lord, … that is, … if they are done to impress him, … by following the Law, rather than grace.
So what do we Christians believe in, well Romans 10:9 tells us clearly that “if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, … and shall believe in our heart that God hath raised him from the dead, (we) shall be saved”. … That is it! … That is all we have to do, … to “believe in our Lord Jesus Christ”.
And this is can be very difficult for us to accept, and we ask the question that “while all the other religions are busy doing their good deeds and charitable works, can we sit on our backsides and do nothing, and still be saved … while they will not”?
... Well the answer to that question according to the bible, is YES, … that is all we need to do to be saved, … to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, … however, as you would expect, there is more going on within us than we could possible know because Colossians 1:27 tells us that it is not now us but “Christ in us, the hope of glory”, who is now in control of our lives, because by believing in Christ, something, somewhere in us has changed, … something in us has died, … and something in our very being we wants to live for him, … and not ourselves.
Colossians 3, verse 3 simply says, “For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God”. … And 2nd Corinthians 5:17 backs this up by saying, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”. And 1st Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, … who is in you, … … You are not your own”.
You see, us Christians, who live in the new testament are new people, … and as new people, we live in a different world with a different set of goals, and we have a different outlook in life. … We are not trying to be saved as with other religions try, we are saved, and because we are saved, the world is very different to us.
… And this brings me to our Gospel reading this mornings, the beatitudes, and with all this introduction in mind, we can look at these beatitudes with a fresh set of eyes, and hopefully we will be able to understand what Jesus is telling us, … that they are a blessing, and not of weakness or foolishness to which they appear, … because they are words of wisdom.
Now each beatitude starts with the word “blessed”; or favoured by God, because God’s favour is already on us, … but lets be clear, the beatitudes are not laws, they are not things that we should strive to obtain, and neither should we feel guilty if we do not relate to them. … No, the beatitudes only make sense if you have accepted Jesus as you’re your Lord, and because of that, they are things that happen to us, or within us or will happen to us in time, … not because of what we do, … but because of who we believe in and who is driving us within. So relax, we are not being condemned.
But before we examine these beatitudes, let us firs look at some of the beatitudes created by this world. This was done years ago by the English Bible scholar, author and clergyman, J.B. Phillips, and also by Pope John Paul II away back in 2001, … and I will condense their findings which said, (and this is quite strong), … Blessed are the ambitious, and the go-getters, for they do not let anyone get in their way, and they get on in this life. … Blessed are they who are insensitive, for they never let life or anyone hurt them, always having an answer. … Blessed are they who constantly complain, for they will get their own way in the end. … Blessed are the hot-headed for they never worry over their sins. … And Blessed are the slave drivers, for they get results. Italics mine.
These are absolutely horrible ideals to live with, but they are true, … and we all know people who live like that. … People who are good at putting a face on things, … but people with another spirit that is driving them from within, … a spirit of selfish drive and ambition. … Anyway, with this in mind, how does Christ compare?
1 Blessed are the poor in spirit
Well the world would say to us first, “blessed are the proud, the self righteous, the self confident, and the conceited”; where as Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse 3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. … The apostle Luke says simply, “the poor”, meaning those people who recognise their dependence upon God. … And this is quite the opposite of those who live in the world, that everything they have, and everything they own, is earned by their own efforts and hard work. … But I will tell you, I have seen such people stopped in their stead by something we would call minor. Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven certainly does not belong to them, but to the poor, those who need and rely on God.
2 Blessed are they that mourn:
Next, the world would say, “blessed are the aggressive, the violent, the forceful, the insistent”; … where as Jesus said in verse 4, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted”.
We ask, how can those who are in mourning be considered “blessed”? Isn’t the opposite true, that those who mourn should be pitied? Well Jesus claims here that they will be comforted, and they will be comforted by him. … To me, this is far better than receiving comfort here on this earth, … even though that is where most people look for comfort. In our modern day society, we are not encouraged to mourn, yet it a very difficult but important part of life, … because we cannot say, “get over it and move on”, as some people do, no, … mourning does not work that way, mourning is a loss that needs to be healed, but Jesus is saying here that he is the very person, or only person who can provide that healing.
3 Blessed are the meek,
The world would say, “blessed are they who prosper at any cost, as they achieved results”; where as Jesus said in verse 5, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth”.
The meek are those who show patience and humility, they are not the ones pushing themselves to the front, because they are content to let others jostle for position. The meek are not the go-getters or self-promoters of this world, … it is not because they are unable, or lack the power, no, the meek are the people who are big enough to put others before themselves. … And that is the exact opposite of today’s world, but could you imagine, … that you were so good at something, that you did not need to push yourself forward, … if so, we would be truly blessed indeed.
4 Blessed are those who hunger after righteousness
Next, the world would say to us, “Blessed are the unscrupulous, the deceitful, the devious, as they are persuasive and they get things done”, but Jesus tells us in verse 6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled”.
Again, this too is the opposite of our modern culture which focused on “every man for himself”, and “keeping up with the Jones”, … because those who hunger and thirst after righteousness care more about the kingdom of God. Can you imagine being content enough not to be driven by the cares of this world, or not being impressed by what others have, … and what you have not. Again, if we could do that we would be blessed indeed. … And besides, no one could work us.
5 Blessed are the merciful
To move on, the world would also say, “blessed are they who look after number one, those who also think of themselves”; … but Jesus said in verse 7, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy”. Blessed are those who reach out to others in need, … that too is not of this world, but to do so, would be to demonstrate true strength and power, whereas those who are selfish or self centred, actually demonstrate a weakness within; so look out for that one.
6 Blessed are the pure in heart
The world would then say, “create your own destiny by any means”, where as Jesus said in verse 5, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God”. The pure in heart are those who have surrendered their hearts and their lives to Jesus, that he may reign in them, … that is to his purposes and to his glory. … Colossians 1 verse 27 tells us that “Christ (is) in us, the Hope of Glory”. I would think that if Christ is in us, we would be blessed indeed. Jesus is telling us here that the pure in heart will see God himself, and that is some claim.
7 Blessed are the peacemakers and the persecuted
Next, the world would say “Blessed are the cruel, the malicious, the spiteful, the hurtful, for they establish their respect, and nobody messes with them”; … whereas Jesus said in verses 9 and 10 and , “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 heaven”.
The peace makers of our time never get the respect they deserve; attention is always given to the troublemakers or they vigilantes, or the extremists. … They are even revered by some for being revolutionary and sticking up for what they think is right. … No Jesus said, “blessed are the peacemakers”, those who do not need violence to make their point, … because they know they are already blessed. They know the power within.
And how many of us have looked at someone being persecuted and thought, “man they are truly blessed”. … I haven’t, … but I will tell you what I have thought, I have thought, “wow I am glad that is not happening to me”, … yet Jesus promises his very kingdom of heaven to those who are enduring hardship, persecution or their time trial for his name sake because, … they to him, are the righteous; … they are doing his bidding here on this earth, and that is a tough one to take, and so is the next one which says ...
8 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you.
The world would say, “Blessed are you whom every one loves, yet Jesus said in verse 11, “Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake”. … I am sure many of us can testify that has happened to us, … and this is can be made worse by somebody telling us that “you only get one life, so take what you can get”, … but Jesus telling us in verse 12 to “Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you”. Jesus is also saying “do not worry, I notice all of this, … they did it to me after all, so you must be doing something right”. … And this too is hard to take, because we all know how difficult it is to believe in spiritual rewards, … especially when a wee bit of comfort would do. …
Conclusion of these blessings.
There is too much in today’s readings and today’ sermon to take it all in. … What I have said is a real quick run-through of the wisdom of the beatitudes. Each one deserves a sermon on its own, and even then that would not do them justice.
But I am trying to get over this morning is the difference in how the world thinks and how we think, and it is no wonder we have problems. It is no wonder that we get discouraged on a regular basis as the proud, the arrogant and the self confident get promoted. … And then we witness those who are violent getting away with it. … We even have to put up with the unscrupulous and devious and those who do not care about the cost of upsetting others, and yet who often end up with the most prosperity, and worldly promotions. … we, are even encouraged to praise them. It is therefore no wonder that we become unstuck and confused at times, because … because we have to live in a world where these things are encouraged, and even admired.
I however, am ashamed to say that I have lived like that, … you too possibly, … but where did it get us. I, and you too probably, would never like to live like that again, because through the foolishness of the cross, we have learned so much and learned what is right.
Living a Christian life in a horrible world is hard, impossible at times, but you must have noticed by now that something inside us dislikes the state of this world more than us, and that something within us is agreeing with our Lord Jesus Christ and these beatitudes, … but that something inside of us, has kept us going all these years despite our short comings.
So, when things get really tough, we can take encouragement from John 16 verse 33, where Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, … that in me you may have peace. … In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; … I have overcome the world”.
Amen and may God bless us for these words.
Let us pray
Father, we thank you for Jesus, we thank you that he lived and died for us, that all our sins have been forgiven, and that we do not live a life looking for your approval, as we are fully accepted by you.
We thank you therefore that we are saved, and that our lives are being changed by you in alignment with your will, … opposing the cares of this world.
Father we come before this morning saying that we do find this confusing and difficult, so please reveal to us your love, and show us that you have been guiding us all this time towards a future with you in heaven.
Father we ask in Jesus name, Amen.
