Scripture: Matthew 4:23-5:11
Theme: This Is Who We Are
Title: Welcome to the Kingdom of Heaven
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Have you ever thought what you would have written down for others to read had:
+You been a follower of Jesus for the 3 ½ years of His earthly ministry.
+Had you seen the need for the Early Church to have a detailed written report about Jesus, His Ministry and Mission.
In other words, have you ever thought if you had been Matthew, Mark, Luke or John and felt the leading of the Holy Spirit to write one of the Gospels?
Where would you have started –
+Would you have started like Matthew with a genealogy setting the stage to enjoy and share not only Jesus’ divinity but also His humanity?
+Or been more like Mark who just seemed to rush into telling the Greatest Story ever told?
+Would you have been like Luke who told his readers that he had spent a great deal of time investigating the story with the intention that the reader would either be led to defend those who believed in Jesus or come to faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord of all?
+Or would you have joined John in telling the Story of Jesus within the larger context of God and Creation?
Each one of the Gospels shares the same story but from different vantage points.
Our story this morning comes from the heart, mind and soul of St. Matthew. It comes from a man who knew what it meant to work in government. It comes from a man who was well acquainted with the importance of keeping accurate records. A man who was a mathematician at heart. A man who saw things logically and concretely.
By the time we get to the end of chapter four and are getting ready to read chapter five which starts with the Sermon on the Mount a great deal of time has already taken place in Jesus’ ministry.
+He had already been preaching all over Galilee. He had been the guest speaker in numerous synagogues. He was already known as a healer and a deliverer. Great crowds of people were already gathering to hear Jesus’ words and for Him to transform their lives.
All of this set up for Matthew the opportunity to put together a compendium of Jesus’ basic teachings.
The Sermon on the Mount is more than a sermon – it is the Magna Charter of what it means to follow Jesus. It could be called the “Manifesto of the Messiah” or even “What Life looks like under King Jesus.”
The whole Sermon on the Mount can be read in under twenty minutes.
However, it takes a great deal more time to absorb all of Jesus’ words. There is more than enough material in these 111 verses for us to spend a lifetime understanding, assimilating, and putting them into practice.
This morning even taking the passage that we have read – Matthew 5:1-11 would require us to spend several sermons or class sessions to fully comprehend. Each little word and phrase can open us up for us a whole new way of looking at life.
This morning, I would like for us to look at those 11 verses in perhaps a new light.
For what Matthew shares with us is not:
1. A New Set of Laws or Rules – Jesus is not replacing the Law of Moses or the Prophets with a New Law of Jesus. In fact, as you know Jesus more than once told us that His mission was to fulfill the Law and the Prophets not to abolish or replace them.
I believe what Matthew wants us to see and absorb is what it concretely means to be a follower of Jesus.
In other words, what it means to actively live out a life as a follower of Jesus in the here and now.
These first 11 verses reveal to us the people that Jesus is
+ Inviting to be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth in the here and now.
+Who we (as His followers) are to be inviting and welcoming into the King of Heaven in the here and now.
If there is one thing that we know about the ancient Israelites is that they loved to think in concrete terms. It doesn’t mean that they couldn’t think in other ways like the Greeks and the Egyptians, but the ancient Jews were an earthy people, they were mostly interested in what could be experienced in real life.
Their DNA was forged in the dirt so to speak. They were an agricultural people. They knew what it meant to farm, to raise animals and to live off the land. They knew what it meant to survive off their wits. While they could theorize and pontificate with the finest of the Egyptians and the Greek, they were at their best when they were living in the present.
All that means is the Sermon on the Mount was not some pie in the sky type of thinking and sermonizing. That would have never flown with the ancient Israelites.
Jesus’ words and ideas had to be practical and realistic. They had to be able to be put into everyday action.
And so, let’s look at those first 11 verses of Matthew chapter five. Those verses that have been called the Beatitudes.
Let’s look at them from a slightly different viewpoint than most people have looked at them in the past and I believed have overworked the word – Blessed.
For that word translated as Blessed can also mean Wonderful –
+Wonderful news for the poor in Spirit – wonderful news – The Kingdom of Heaven is yours – you can claim it.
In other words – it doesn’t matter if you are materially the poorest person on the planet, or the one with the least morals or even if you are lacking in intellectual capability. The Kingdom of Heaven is yours for the asking and receiving.
Suddenly, this may mean something different than what we have ever thought of these verses before.
Many times, we just read these words and say – Well, isn’t it wonderful that Jesus smiled so nicely on those who were poor – one day the Kingdom of Heaven will be theirs – that is after their death and the final resurrection takes place and we have the New Heaven and New Earth.
But what if Jesus was in fact saying what I think that He was in fact saying:
Wonderful news to all of you who are out there without a dime in your pocket, those of you who are bankrupt in the morals department, or those who are not the sharpest pencil in the box.
None of that matters because your Heavenly Father is reaching out to you. The Kingdom of Heaven is yours if you will receive Him. All you have to do is to repent of your sins and You can experience heaven on earth. You can live a life that not only brings God glory and honor but a life that Jesus called the Abundant Life.
After all, you can’t buy the Kingdom of God with money, resources or even having an upstanding and moral spirit. You can’t get into the Kingdom of Heaven just because you are smarter than anyone else.
No – the wonderful news is that the Kingdom of Heaven is open for the poor, for those who are spiritually bankrupt and for those who lack something in the intelligence department.
Jesus wanted everyone to know that the Kingdom of Heaven was open to any who would receive it from His Heavenly Father. The Kingdom of Heaven was open to any who would repent of their sins, follow Him and give themselves to His Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit.
Now, remember for any of this to really matter we must also see it happening in the Early Church.
For the Church is to be Jesus to the World. This is why as we read the Book of Acts that we see all the beatitudes – all these things that Jesus talks about being Wonderful News really being Wonderful News.
Confused?
Well, let’s go over some of list rather quickly and perhaps it will begin to make more sense –
+ The Poor in Spirit – In the book of Acts we see Peter and John reaching out to the lame man at the Temple. He wasn’t rich or well educated. He wasn’t even allowed to go into the Temple because of his handicap.
The only redeeming quality many would have seen him possess was his ability to cry out for money as those who thought of them better than him walked into the Temple to pray to the LORD.
However, that is not how Peter and John viewed him. They reached out to him. They accepted him. They treated him as a valuable human being. Then led by the Holy Spirit they brought healing and wholeness into his life.
They did what Jesus said – Welcome – Welcome are you who are poor in spirit – you who are poor financially, morally and intellectually. You are invited to share life with us. You are invited to share the Kingdom of Heaven.
Out there on the hillsides all around Israel Jesus had done his best to tell all those who were poor in Spirit – Wonderful News – You are welcome – The Kingdom of Heaven is yours for the receiving.
Now, in Acts we see His Church – the Early Church doing the same thing.
And today, in our church, in churches all around us we have promoted the same message and ministry – whether you are poor in material goods, poor in having good morals, poor in intelligence or even poor in good health – Here is the Wonderful News – You are welcomed here where we experience the Kingdom of Heaven – in this place and in our midst.
But that is not all – as we go on – we hear Jesus saying Wonderful News to
+Those who are mourning –
Remember in Acts chapter six where the Church appointed special people to take care of the needs of the widows. These widows had lost their main means of financial, emotional, social and even spiritual support.
In many areas of the ancient world widows were left to starve to death. They were considered a drag on society. They cost time and money and so in many places they were just abandoned to scratch out the best living they could.
Jesus in His Sermon is saying – Wonderful News – You are welcome here with us.
And in the book of Acts the Early Church goes about doing the same thing. When others rejected the widows and didn’t take care of them the Early Church appointed special people to minister unto them and take care of their needs.
They were not abandoned to starve or to merely wither away. They were brought under the tent of the Early Church and supported and loved.
You can go all through the rest of the Beatitudes and you can see in the Book of Acts and in the rest of the New Testament where the Church not only heard the message of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount but did their best to live out the Sermon on the Mount.
+Jesus says to those who are meek – You Are Welcome – Wonderful news to the meek – You will inherit the earth.
The meek were people like Timothy, John Mark and Dorcas who didn’t want to be in front. They were people who could easily be pushed to the side because they didn’t want to be the center of attention. They were people who had a more gentle character and tended to stay away from confrontations. They were easy to intimidate and browbeat.
Jesus says to those people – Welcome – People say that you will never have anything or do anything. My Father will help you have all you need.
The Early Church opened its doors to people like John Mark, Timothy and Dorcas. While they were meek and gentle, we see that Timothy becomes one of the greatest bishops of the Early Church, where John Mark writes the Gospel of Mark and where Dorcas is one of the great stories of a woman who was so loved and touched by God.
What am I saying –
When Jesus speaks of such people as Poor in Spirit, the meek, those who hunger after righteousness, those who are merciful and pure in heart etc… – He is saying to all of them – Welcome to My Kingdom.
For you are who I want in my Kingdom
+Those who the world tends to put down – those who want to live a righteous life more than they want riches and popularity. People like Barnabas who was willing to sell part of their inheritance – a section of valuable land just to feed the poor and needy.
+Those who people looked down on when they didn’t take the opportunity to drive the stake home and destroy their enemies but instead allowed the LORD to so change their hearts that they were able in love to reach out to their enemies. People like Ananias who not only forgave Saul but was the instrument that God used to heal Saul after he had been blinded by God’s light.
It would take us longer than we have time this morning to go through the whole list of people Jesus is saying – Blessed or rather Welcome - and then take the time to see how the Early Church did in fact did welcome each and every one of them.
But just think for a moment –
+Jesus reached out to Nicodemus – a man rather confused but pure in heart.
+Jesus reached out to Nathanael – a man who hungered and thirsted after righteousness.
+Jesus welcomed the merciful – the centurion who couldn’t just throw his slave away but asked Jesus to heal him. Jesus welcomes him and heals his slave.
+Jesus welcomed those who were mourning like Mary and Martha.
We could go all through the Gospels and place person after person in all the categories that we find in these eleven verses. In fact, that would be a great study to do to see how Jesus reached out to all of these groups listed here and even more.
To just make a list of all of them – poor in spirit, meek, merciful, pure in heart, persecuted etc… and then find people in the Gospels that fit those descriptions.
But we shouldn’t stop there. We should then go to the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament and see where the Early Church fulfilled Jesus’ Welcome – Jesus blessings – where they welcomed and reached out to those who were being persecuted, those who were hungering and thirsting after God and they welcomed them.
But we shouldn’t even stop there. We should then look around and make sure that we as individuals, as families and as a fellowship of Christ followers are doing the same thing – that we are welcoming and blessing the same way.
I believe we do that each time we reach out to people who don’t believe in God. We don’t shun them or make them feel uncomfortable, but we welcome them and want them to be a part of our fellowship. For by doing so they will get to witness what Jesus has done in our lives and through us.
I feel like we do that each time we open our doors and share with the poor.
I feel like we do that every time we make sure that we are meeting the needs of anyone who has a physical, mental or emotional handicap. We do our best to take down any barriers that may cause them to feel uncomfortable or be unable to attend worship with us.
Jesus was willing to see the roof of his house torn off to meet the needs of the lame man and in like manner we have to look around and make sure His House here has no barriers for anyone who suffers from any type of handicap.
You see this morning, the Beatitudes are more than just a list of lofty ideas – of being poor in spirit, in being meek or pure in heart.
Jesus – says to all those – Wonderful News – You are Welcome and in My Father’s House you will be wanted, accepted and approved.
Jesus is saying to His Church – My Mission – Your Mission – is to open the door – it is to go out and welcome those:
-Who are without morals
-Who are timid and afraid
-Who the world is putting down – marginalizing and rejecting
-Who suffer from some type of barrier – physical, emotional, social
-Who don’t have any money or just a little bit of money
-Who find themselves living alone
-Who spiritually fall and get up only to fall again
To all of those Jesus says – THIS IS THE GOOD NEWS – YOU ARE WHO I LOVE – YOU ARE WELCOME AND YOU ARE WONDERFUL – For I came to earth for you and now my Church is here for you.
Wow! There is a lot to the Sermon on the Mount. There is a lot to read, to receive and to assimilate. This week take some time and read over these verses again – read them with the word – Welcome – and the do your best to do just that – Welcome all the various groups that Jesus refers to here.
Invitation to the Holy Communion
This morning we are going to close by hearing the song – Goodness of God – allow it to speak to you and allow it to challenge you to help someone else be able to sing this song for themselves.
