The Beatitudes
Story: It’s All Saints day today - and of course it is our Patronal Service today
But do we have any Saints among us?
Elsie "Are you a Saint?" (Elsie is a Churchwarden!)
The term saint is used in the NT section of the Bible and is the word hagios meaning: sacred , pure or blameless.
St Paul writing to the Church at Philippi addresses them as "the saints at Philippi" (Phil 1:1) or to "the saints at Epehsus¨ (Eph 1:1)
The Bible’s use of the term Saint means someone who has committed his life to follow Jesus Christ.
As one Commentator put it:
"They became saints by means of the Holy Spirit, which can only come from God. God therefore chooses His saints, and gives them of His Holy Spirit to make it possible"
So cheer up - being a saint has nothing to do with our goodness - rather it has all to do with Jesus’ mercy.
But what does following Christ entail:
Story: Blondin was a famous tightrope walker in the 19th Century.
In 1859 he spanned a rope across the Niagara Falls and then proceeded to walk with a wheelbsrrow across the Falls.
When he reached the other side, the crowds cheered. He went up to the crowds and asked them:
"Do you believe that I can walk across the falls on the tightrope without falling off?"
"Yes" many replied: "Then get into my barrow and I’ll take you across."
"You must be joking."was the reply
To follow Jesus means getting into Jesus’ wheelbarrow.
It requires trust and faith BUT it is not blind trust and faith. It is faith and trust built up on the character of the One whom Scripture reveals to us - Jesus Christ.
But being saints - those set apart for God - has awesome responsibilities too.
We must take Jesus’ teachings very seriously.
One of Jesus’ most famous teachings on the quality of Christian life can be found in our Gospel reading tonight - teachings that are better known as the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12)
There are nine Beatitudes in Mt 5
Jesus said: Blessed are
1. The poor in Spirit ( verse 3)
2. Those who Mourn (verse 4)
3. The Meek (verse 5)
4. Those who Hunger and Thirst for righteousness (v.6)
5. Those who are Merciful (verse 7)
6. The Pure in heart (verse 8)
7. The Peacemakers (verse 9)
8. Those who are Persecuted for righteousness sake. (v. 10)
9. Insulted because of Christ. (Verses 11-12)
Story: Contrary to public opinion
Blessed are those - who do not preach too long
For we shall be able - to get home quicker.
is not one of Jesus’ beatitudes.
The Beatitudes do however reflect the very CHARACTER OF GOD HIMSELF.
Can you see Jesus in these nine Attitudes?
Perhaps we can let the Beattidues BE OUR ATTITUDES too.
It is interesting that when Jesus summed the Law of God up, he did not refer to outward signs but he referred to inward attitudes.
It is these attitudes that govern our lives:
Story: One day Jesus was asked by a Phariseee what the man must do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus told the man that inheriting eternal life had nothing to do with DOING things for God but rather it had all to do with the man’s LIFE ATTITUDE: He told him to
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and Love your neighbour as yourself. (Luke 10:27)
If I was to look at all nine attitudes this evening - we’d be here quite some time. So I’d like to look at just one.
Perhaps the Beatitudes might make a good preaching theme for the future
The Beatitude I’d like to look at is
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (v.6)
Clearly God’s righteousness speaks of his moral perfection.
And it is interesting to note that the term "The Righteous One" is a Messianic Title (Is 53:11) and so can be applied to Jesus
But what do we mean when we talk of man being righteous?
We find a clue in the first book in the Bible - in Genesis - to what righteousness means when applied to man.
In Gen. 15:6 we read : "Abram believed the Lord and He credited to him as righteousness."
It was Abraham’s actions that showed his Faith. And that was credited to Abraham as righteousness.
And the writer of the book of James followed this up by saying
"It was Abraham’s actions that showed his Faith. And that was credited to Abraham as righteousness.
And the writer of the book of James followed this up by saying
"Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar.
You see his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did.
And the scripture was fulfilled that says: Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness AND HE WAS CALLED GOD’S FRIEND.
(James 2: 21 et seq)
And then James goes on to write this very curious verse "You see a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone" Jas. 2:24
Story: Martin Luther, the great hero of the Reformation once described the epistle of James as an "epistle of straw".
Because on the face of it - it seems as if James is saying that salvation is not by faith ALONE but rather by our works if you read Jas. 2:24 out of context. And this would seem to contradict Eph 2:8 and 9 where Paul says:
"8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast."
But actually - much as I admire Luther I think he missed the point.
What James is saying is that faith must result in actions. It is not enough to SAY you have faith - you must PROVE that faith - and proving that faith comes by action.
As Frank Gäberlein in the Expositors Bible says:
"James has indicated that deeds complete faith (v.22) They are the outworking of genuine faith.Thus deeds are evidence that saving faith is present in a person’s life (v.18) James was combatting a superficial faith that had no wholesome effect in the life of the professed believer." (The Expositor’s Bible Vol 12 - Frank Gaeberlein p. 185)
James is saying our faith DOES the saving but our actions prove that the faith is actually present
Or put another way - the proof of the pudding is in the eating."
In short, Abraham believed God when he promised that Isaac was going to be his heir - even though he couldn’t understand what God was asking him to do.
He put his trust in the fact that God knows best
And it was that faith that was credited as righteousness.
But it wasn’t a blind faith - it was a faith built up of over years of walking with God.
And as a result of that faith, we see that Abraham entered into a RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.
He was called God’s friend!
But another aspect of righteousness when applied to man comes from our Gospel reading today.
Jesus called his disciples to seek to put the Beatitudes into effect in their lives.
It doesn’t mean that we earn our salvation in this way.
Rather it is our response to Jesus’ gift of eternal life.
We change because we have been redeemed
We co-operate with the Holy Spirit in a process called Sanctification.
And therefore we should want to change our behaviour to conform it to God’s will - because we love him
We can’t say we are seeking after righteousness - yet do nothing about those defects that make our lives ugly.
Because that won’t promote the Kingdom of God
As a prominent Atheist once said: "I’d be a Christian ¡Vbut for the Christians I see around me."
Put another way: "Do you actions speak so loud, that no one can hear what you are saying?."
God is interested in our inner being and not in externals.
Jesus said: What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him unclean, but what comes out of his mouth, that makes him unclean. (Mt 15:11)
And in the following beatitude, Jesus said;
Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God.
Purity of heart - that’s a whole other sermon!!
But could we, like David, say as David did in Psalm 26:2 say:
Examine my heart and my mind.
without being ashamed of what Christ might find.
And let me leave your with a little conundrum, which I don¡¦t intend to answer in this sermon.
It was this same David - who was an adulterer and a murderer AND who is described in the Book of Acts like this:
22 After removing Saul, (God) made David their king. He testified concerning him: ’I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ (Acts 13:22)
How come?
I’ll give you a hint- it had to do with his attitude in life and his relationship with God.
