INTRODUCTION
Last week in our introductory studies, we learned that Jesus had just choose the twelve to be His Apostles from the group of all of His disciples.
Shortly after Jesus chose the apostles, He laid the ground work for the transformation of their characters by preaching the Sermon on the Mount. He clearly taught them what was expected of them if they were to continue to be his disciples.
He stressed the personal characteristics they would have to develop, their relationship to God, and their relationships to their fellow man.
The beatitudes give us a glimpse into the character Jesus expected in His followers, His true disciples, members of His family, citizens of the Kingdom of God!
The Beatitudes are for all Christians in all ages.
The fundamental idea all through the Beatitudes is God’s approval is upon such a man who exhibits these traits.
What is the worlds formula for happiness?
It is usually opposite of what Jesus teaches, and if a person can know the true secret to happiness, it is Jesus.
The beatitudes are contrary to the way that the world thinks things should be. The Christian who has put them to the test realize their unquestionable truth.
SERMON
CHARACTERISTICS OF MESSIAH’S SUBJECTS.
Are the beatitudes giving entrance requirements for the kingdom, or are they describing attitudes and characteristics of one who is already a citizen?
a. The word blessed can mean happy or fortunate, it is translated 47 times blessed, 1 time fortunate and 2 times happy.
b. All of these catch the meaning of the original, but blessed has a deeper meaning than the others.
c. There are many ways that the beatitudes can be outlined, but we will go with a simple 2 point outline:
1. Personal Qualities
2. Social Qualities.
A. PERSONAL QUALITIES
1. The Poor in Spirit.
a. Not Physically poor, not proof text for poverty.
b. I need God desperately! Realize condition without God’s grace.
1. There condition is the opposite of the self-righteous person, or the self-righteous Jew of the time.
c. Kingdom of Heaven
1. Jesus is saying that the person that is poor in spirit has an opportunity to enter into the church. He also has the opportunity to enter the eternal heavenly home.
2. We say opportunity because elsewhere in the New Testament would show that a man is not in the kingdom simply because he is poor in spirit.
2. Those who morn
a. Not over some event, but over our spiritual poverty.
TALK ABOUT THINGS IT IS NOT
b. Blessed are those who grieve over their sins; who sorrow that they have committed it, and are wounded that they have offended Almighty God. Their grief is so great that there is no possible way for the person to hide it.
1. In Mark 16:10 the word is tied with weeping, as it is in James 4:9.
a. MARK16:10 She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping.
c. Blessed is the one who morns over the sin that is running rampant in the world.
d. BE COMFORTED. There can be no comfort where there is no morning!
Use traveler lost in a storm.
1. We are not in the kingdom just because we are sorry for our sins, but it is a prerequisite t obeying comforted.
2. Sin makes us uncomfortable. We are comforted by the fact that our sins are forgiven.
3. Blessed are the gentle (meek). 5:5
One of the meekest men in history was John the Baptist. He was such a powerful figure that Josephus, the great Jewish historian, reports many years later when John’s name was mentioned people still trembled at the thought of him. Jesus’ eulogy of John was that he was "greater than any man born of woman." Yet when he saw the Christ, instead of giving a speech about his own great accomplishments, he sent his disciples to Jesus telling them, "He must increase but I must decrease." When asked who he was, he simply said, "I am nobody. I am to be heard, not to be seen. I am just a voice." Did you ever notice that David never describes his victory of Goliath in all of the psalms? We live in a time of superlatives -- the greatest evangelist, the greatest preacher, the greatest theologian, the greatest actor -- we desire dignity, position. We want some title and to be addressed properly. No wonder Christ cannot be seen. Paul called himself "the least of all the apostles." Where is our pride? Where is our meekness?
a. Meekness or gentleness is not weakness, it is power under control.
1. Use the illustration of a wild horse.
b. A man recognizes his spiritual poverty, then morns over his condition, then meekness comes in, we are not as big as we thought. We recognize the fact that we need help with our sin problem, we have the power to do what we want, but the meek person will turn themselves selves over to God.
c. It doesn’t make you a wimp to morn over sin.
d. inherit the earth The possibility.
1. May be a reference to this life, the meek person has the possibility of having the best life on this earth.
2. Participation in the new heaven and earth.
e. An arrogant attitude of independence from God and the church will damage our relationship with God.
4. Hunger and thirst for righteousness. 5:6
a. In the context, man realizes his spiritual poverty. He morns over his lost condition and realizes that he needs help. He is hungry for help! WHERE WILL HE BE FILLED?
b. different avenues. EXPLAIN
c. The person who hungers and thirsts needs to go to God, and the Word for food.
d. The one who is hungering and thirsting for righteousness is interested in God’s method for making man right with God. Romans 1:17 tells us that the righteous man lives by faith.
e. YOU WILL BE FILLED.
a. The word used here is a very strong and graphic word, originally applied to the feeding and fattening of an animal in a stall. It is the same word that is used when talking about the people who were filled at the feeding of the 5000.
JOHN 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. “
B. SOCIAL QUALITIES
1. 5:7 MERCIFUL, OBTAIN MERCY.
a. Forgiveness for the guilty, compassion for the suffering. We need to be a merciful people, because we serve a merciful God.
1. This word emphasizes the misery with which grace deals, especially the sense of human anguish coupled with the impulse to relieve it.
b. Matthew 7 teaches that we will be judged by the standard that we judge.
Forty-six year old Dan Dierdorf, now an announcer on Monday Night Football, currently makes in excess $600,000 per year in that capacity. He relates:
"I’ve been on this incredible roll," he says with wide-eyed amazement. "I’ve made more money and bettered myself every year since I was 21 years old. If my life were a graph, it would be one continuous line at a 45-degree angle, pointing up."
While his professional life has had few hitches, Dierdorf has experienced one grievous personal setback. In January, 1985, his two- month-old daughter, Kelly, died, a victim of sudden infant death syndrome. "For some reason, usually between the ages of one and four months, they take a breath and don’t take another one," says Dierdorf. "There’s no struggle, no choking; they just stop, like flipping off the switch on a light. My wife, Debbie, woke up at 4 and realized she hadn’t heard the baby cry for its feeding at 2:30 or 3. She knew right away. She came back into our bedroom carrying her. How do you describe it? It’s beyond belief. Every day you sit around and start falling farther and farther into that hole."
Dierdorf, says Kelly’s death taught him a hard lesson. "It made me more sensitive to other people’s problems," he says. "When everything is going well, you’re not aware of other people’s problems. You don’t have the time. Then when something happens to you, all of a sudden you find out that virtually everyone you know has a problem, sometimes a worse one than yours and you have been blind to it."
2. 5:8 Pure in heart
a. Spiritual poverty = lost = morning = study God’s word = sees mercy of God = wants salvation. HOW DO YOU GET A PURE HEART?
b. PSA 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
C. The noblest man that has ever lived (except for Christ), stands condemned by the Word of God.
1. Up to this point, you have possible results, it is a stated fact, the pure in heart shall see God!
3. 5:9 PEACE MAKERS
a. Personal evangelism, bringing people to God. Peace with God
b. SONS OF GOD
1. We must first obey the gospel. This beatitude is not a substitute for the terms set in the “Great Commission”.
2. 1 John 5:2-3 tells us that if we are sons of God, then we must be constantly be obeying all the commandments, including sharing the gospel with all.
3. Not just keepers of the peace, but those who promote it.
When he was an attorney, Abraham Lincoln was once approached by a man who passionately insisted on bringing a suit for $2.50 against an impoverished debtor. Lincoln tried to discourage him, but the man was bent on revenge. When he saw that the man would not be put off, Lincoln agreed to take the case and asked for a legal fee of $10, which the plaintiff paid. Lincoln then gave half of the money to the defendant, who willingly confessed to the debt and paid the $2.50! But even more amazing than Lincoln’s ingenuous settlement was the fact that the irate plaintiff was satisfied with it.
4. PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE. 5:10
a. Because of being a peacemaker, you will be persecuted. Because you are trying to be like Jesus, people will persecute you.
b. The order of the beatitudes shows that once a person is pure in heart, they are not finished, they are called to be peacemakers, and because of that position, they will be persecuted for righteousness sake.
c. Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven
1. Kingdom of Heaven, seeing God, and inheriting the earth are all probably a reference to the same thing.
2. READ VERSES 11 AND 12 AND EXPLAIN
CONCLUSION
1. The Beatitudes have two parts.
a. A quality
Tie in wit the message
b. A blessing (contingent on the quality being present)
1. You don’t receive the blessing without the quality.
2. The beatitudes show us that Jesus does have standards, that they way that what we believe, and how we live does count.
3. The beatitudes also show us that the Christian life is just that, a life, not an activity.
