The New Kingdom Order - The Beatitudes

The only problem with all of that is such an idea would be totally foreign to a Semitic/Hebraic audience. If the people of Judah were anything they were people who lived very practical lives and who thought in very concrete ways. The majority of Jews at that time were not given to abstract teachings and philosophies. For them the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY was real, the world was real and life was real. To read some platonic ideology into the Sermon on the Mount I believe is to totally misunderstand our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The real quandary is that what Matthew shares with us here is so real. Jesus' words are clear and concise. It may be our desire that if we think His words and thoughts can be considered ambiguous it then provides for us an excuse not to attempt to live them out. The more we can make ourselves think that this sermon is full of allegory, metaphors, parables and even platonic thought the more we can divorce ourselves from its fundamental truth. What we must understand as we read this sermon is that this is God in Flesh sharing deep truths concerning how to speak, how to see and how to live life here on our world as His followers.

These are not the words of some itinerant rabbi wandering around the hills of Judea being followed by a motley group of unemployed fishermen and others. These are instead the words of the Son of God clothed in human flesh do all He can to make it clear what it means to live out a life of progressive holiness. These are the words of God in flesh showing us the way that we can live if we accept Him as Savior and LORD and allow the Holy Spirit to infill the totality of our very beings.

This morning, I would like for us to turn our attention to the first 12 verses of this sermon. This section that has been given the label - The Beatitudes. Many of us who were raised in church may have been taught to memorize them. Many of us were taught to commit them to our minds but I am not so sure that many of us understood that we were also to commit them into our hearts and souls. We were to allow the words of the Beatitudes to transform us from the inside out.

As we read these beatitudes one of the first things that we may think of is this - "I am so glad that those people are blessed who are going through such tough times but I am more glad that I am not one of them." After all, who this morning wants to raise their hand and volunteer and say - "I want to be one of those who considered themselves to spiritually bankrupt, one of those overwhelmed with sadness or one that is enduring persecution and facing false accusations?

Now, we may go to the LORD and say, "Yes, Lord I know you bless those people but if it is all the same you can leave me out of that blessing." "I want to be holy and a peace maker but I'd rather not be a person who endures persecution or false accusations made against them." "I want to meek but if it's all the same I would also like to owe some real estate here on this earth." "I want to grow in your grace but all that hungering and thirsting sounds a little too painful."