WRECKING BALL
Text: Matthew 5: 1 -12
Back in the 1800’s, the cleanliness factor involved in surgeries within the practice of medicine was far different than what is practiced today. Multitudes of people were dying shortly after their surgeries. There was one doctor who figured out why so many were dying. He therefore sought to enlighten his contemporaries about his conclusion----the need for adequate pre-surgical sanitation. His peers laughed at him. In fact, he began to lose the respect of his fellow doctors which caused him to lose his sanity. Unfortunately, he never resumed his practice. Following his death, the enlightened doctor proved to be right. As the pre-surgical sanitation practices improved, the death rate following surgeries improved drastically. (A paraphrased story from Bruce Larson’s book,. No Longer Strangers). They say “hindsight is twenty twenty” because we are looking backward with perfect vision through experience and wisdom from what we learned on our journey before we knew what we now know.
Sometimes what we learn is like a “Wrecking ball” that crashes against walls in much the same way that our new insights made the old ones obsolete. What we learn from being on the inside looking out educates us from what we did not know when we were on the outside looking in. The Beatitudes can be like a wrecking ball as to how they can help us to grow where we thought we had arrived.
OUTSIDE
Have you ever seen a place that on the inside that did not match your expectations of what it looked like from the outside? Did it look smaller from the outside than the inside? How many times have you seen a car that looked smaller from the outside than from the inside? How many times have you explored how much people live on the outside? Now, a prying question, “Do you live life on the outside, neglecting your interior life---your heart?
What was one of the major complaints that Jesus had against the Pharisees? 1) Trivia: How many of you said or thought “they lived on the outside spiritually”? Consider Mathew 23:25: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence” (ESV). 2) Gotcha question?: Do we live like hypocrites following in the footsteps of the scribes and Pharisees? Doesn’t that seem like a “gotcha question”? If it is indeed a “gotcha question” what would our litmus test be? 3 ) Answer: You might not like the answer! In Matthew 5:20 Jesus put it this way: “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (ESV).
Are the Beatitudes a template for the Christians life? 1) A template: A template usually serves as a model or a guide for something. It seems that the Beatitudes are a lot like a template for the Christian life. 2) Idolatrous rebels: We are so accustomed to seeing how many people live their lives on the outside. They focus on the faults of others while usually neglecting to take an inventory of themselves. They complain about others who do not share their point of view. They are more like the architects of their own little Babylonian empires. 3) Soul searching: The Beatitudes seem lean toward exploring who we are on the inside. Notice where it starts with the words “poor in spirit” and seems to incrementally go from one level to deeper levels of who we are.
INSIDE
Is beauty only skin deep while ugly goes all the way to the bone? 1) Beholders: Most would say that it depends on the eye of the beholder. 2) Soul searching: In the spiritual sense we would have to say that it depends on the ones who do some soul searching to see who they are and who God is calling them to be. 3) Contradiction: Is it possible for one to outwardly display -the skin deep beauty that contradicts the ugly that goes all the way to the bone? ?
Do you believe that what happens on the inside effects what is displayed on the outside? Dr. Tony Evans helps to put it in perspective in an observation that he made. “When a woman is pregnant, over time, its going to show. Early on, it may not be clear to others. There will be things happening on the inside of her---changes hormonally, changes with regard to taste, and changes with regard to various habits. …” [Husbands did your wife ever send you on an errand to go and get something that she was craving when she was pregnant?] “ …if the changes are happening inside, they’re going to show up after awhile outside of her too. Many of God’s so-called children aren’t pregnant with his love, because the changes are not showing.” (Tony Evans. Tony Evans’ Book Of Illustrations. Chicago: Moody Press, 2009, p. 196). The Beatitudes challenge us to change for the better from the inside out!
Each beatitude reminds us of how the heart can deceive us (Jeremiah 17:9) !
Each Beatitude is like a Wrecking Ball to the places where we we once rebels. Each Beatitude is a Wrecking Ball to the things of this world that rival God’s people, God’s love and God’s kingdom here on earth.
The world offers junk food to those who are hopeless.
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (ESV).
The world tells us not to let grief hold us back but be to be stoic and move on.
Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (ESV).
The world tells us to be proud that meekness and humility means weakness
Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (ESV).
The world offers us bread that cannot satisfy. Consider Isaiah 55:2: "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" (RSV).
Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (ESV). Jesus Christ is the Bread of Heaven (John 6:35).
The world tells us to look out for ourselves show no mercy, but to get even.
Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy (ESV).
The world tells us to be heartless in pursuing our goals. John Wesley reminds us that cleanliness is next to godliness because God wants us to be holy as He is Holy.
Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (ESV).
The world tells us that we should achieve our goals even if it means that we have to be troublemakers to get there. The sin of rebellion makes us slaves.
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (ESV).
The world is not kind to those of us who are what Stanley Hauerwas calls “Resident Aliens”. They resent us because our righteousness rivals their false peace and security. This world is not our home!
Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (ESV).
The world resents us and gossips about us because our light provokes their darkness. “Whenever they hand you over, don’t worry about how to speak or what you will say, because what you can say will be given to you in that moment” (Matthew 10:19 CEB).
Matthew 5:11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Matthew 10:28-31 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (29) Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. (30) But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. (31) Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows (ESV).
Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (ESV).
So why are the Beatitudes like a Wrecking Ball? Consider John 3:18 - 21: “Whoever believes in him [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (19) And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (20) For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (21) But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (ESV). In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
