Matthew 5:1-3
“Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'”
I heard a statistic this week that has left me disturbed. The study said that 20% of all employees across all economic levels are ‘miserable’. I don’t mean discouraged or upset. I mean, they hate every single moment they are there.
Now, I know that part of the problem is that everything has become so insanely expensive, and most people are living paycheck to paycheck and feel that they are losing ground. We all know that feeling.
But it gets worse. There is in the lives of young people an epidemic of guilt and shame. From being told they are a blight on the face of the earth to condemning them for things they don’t control, social media gives them no break and no purpose.
In our text today, Jesus is about to call out all those who spread these lies of self-hate and want to keep all good men and women down. He is about to tell the truth not just about this world but about the Kingdom of Heaven. You see, Jesus is not just concerned about your happiness. He wants above all things to bless you in this life and the next.
Invocation:
Gracious God, we come before you today with open and seeking hearts. As we explore Jesus’ words, teach us what it means to be blessed, to be poor in spirit, to mourn, and to be meek. Help us to reflect on the state of our own spirits. Guide us to turn our focus from worldly values to heavenly ones. Bless our time together in your word. We pray this in Christ’s name, Amen.
Offertory
I love feel-good stories. You know, the ones about people who do good things for the sheer sake of doing something good. By doing so, we learn something about ourselves.
Take for instance, the Honolulu Zoo in Hawaii. With inflation and lagging donations, there were serious questions about their future. Then they did something that changed everything.
They asked their communities to volunteer and do projects at the zoo for no pay. Sounds like they’re desperate, right?
Well, they never could have imagined the response. From churches to bikers, groups began showing up and they kept coming. Right now, the zoo’s biggest problem is finding enough things for them to do.
And by the way, their donations have reached all-time highs. Who would have ever thought that getting involved personally could make you generous?
The time of offering is not a reflection of your wealth but of your heart. Oddly enough, the more you are involved in the work of His church, the more you are blessed as well as others.
This morning, offer a simple prayer with your gift. Lord, use me! Then let God change your life.
Communion
When I was doing my degree work in Psychology, I remember one study above so many others. It was a theory entitled, “Small Win Theory”. It offered the idea that among all the things that change us, it is the small wins that make the most difference.
Consider your mother. There were special days in your relationship that you will always treasure. Birthdays, holidays, and once in a lifetime moments. But you were affected far more by the daily exchanges with your mom. The meals shared, the laughter and even the chores. You were doing your best to be part of a family.
When we come to this table, we are moved by the singular acts of Christ for us like the Cross, the Tomb and His Resurrection. That is what Easter is all about.
But what may escape us is that we are also changed by our daily lives with Him. Giving thanks for our food, lifting up others in prayer and having those unseen discussions with Him about how life is going.
His sacrifice brought you to this Table, but it is His daily presence with you that keeps bringing you back. You are not just changed by the first time you take communion but by the hundreds and thousands of times that followed.
When you finally get to heaven and sit down with Him at His table for the first time, it will feel like home because of all the times you have spent at this Table; and that is a good thing.
One more thought about your mother and the table. Did you ever get tired of her serving you? Did her favorite recipes ever taste bad? Of course, not because it wasn’t about the food. It was about her. You will never become tired of this Table either because it’s not about this Table, it’s about Him.
Message
For a year, Jesus has moved from Jerusalem through the Galilee and even into the Gentile Decapolis to ensure that His healing, witness, and message is not only received by many but understood by those closest to Him.
He knew that His mission would result in His death and resurrection, and He knew that these men and women who followed Him would be His testimony to the generations to come.
His pace has been relentless and His courage absolute. While He didn’t want the innocent caught up in the plans to kill Him, He did not hide. The sheer numbers of those following Him held off any attempt by the authorities to seize Him or do Him harm.
When we left Jesus last week, He had entered the throngs of people so they might experience Him as a man and find hope and healing in His divinity. Touching Him would become a habit among the people.
Now Jesus walks back up the mountain a ways and seats Himself as is the habit of the teacher. His disciples and those who followed Him gather around to hear Him teach.
We have reached a pivotal moment in Jesus’ teaching and ministry. A year has established Him as a rabbi and prophet to the people. The time has come for Jesus to take the next step in His plan for the salvation of mankind.
It may have gone unnoticed by the disciples, but Jesus was well aware of this image in the history of His people. This setting of the mountain and Jesus was reminiscent of Moses receiving the Law of God on Mount Sinai. Jesus has positioned Himself as the new lawgiver and spiritual authority in the lives of His people.
Everything had come full circle. Jesus was bringing completion to the old law and introducing a new covenant. The authorities did well to fear Jesus for He was declaring a new Kingdom; a new Israel written in the hearts of mankind.
He would become the last High Priest they would ever need. His sacrifice would make all other sacrifices unnecessary. And unlike the Temple and the Law, He wouldn’t just roll back their sins for year but would atone for them completely, take their sins with Him to the cross and justify them before God Himself.
We have had over 2,000 years to enjoy the work of Christ but those surrounding Him that day could only dream about what He was going to do for them. Jesus saw their desire, but He also knew the frailty of the human heart and knew there was much to be done before His time of sacrifice came.
He was indeed bringing a new Kingdom of God to mankind but were they ready for it? Were they ready to be born again or would they cling to the old rituals they had practiced for thousands of years? It was not going to be easy, no matter what.
So, Jesus begins the task of preparing the people for this new Kingdom of God. He would spend the next two years engraining His disciples in this covenant though He knew they would not fully grasp it until everything was played out.
What follows is what we have coined the Sermon on the Mount, but these truths will be spelled out over and over on every occasion Jesus had to reveal that what the prophets had spoken of was now coming to pass. He wasn’t ending the Law; He was fulfilling it.
Jesus begins this by pointing to the favor of God which all men seek. We not only want to know more about our heavenly Father, but we also want to know how we can please Him and stay in His favor.
It’s the same for us today. All we want is to be pleasing in His sight and stay in His favor and grace.
So, Jesus begins to lay out how we can do just that by describing those who God looks down on with favor. Jesus is literally saying, “If you want to be blessed by God, then this is how!”
Psalm of Solomon 17 announces this blessing: “Happy are those who shall live in those days [of the Messiah], to see the good things of Israel that God shall accomplish in the congregation of the tribes”.
Sadly, we have taken these beatitudes and turned them into “happytudes”. Happy are you if you do this or that. But Jesus wasn’t offering a secret formula for earning the favor of God or offering secrets to being happy in this world.
What He was doing was outlining the values that were to be found and practiced in this new Kingdom of God. This wasn’t a series of self-help insights to better living but the laws that governed life in this new Kingdom. Spiritual laws that you ignore at your own peril.
The Beatitudes, beginning with Matthew 5:1-3, invite us to embrace an understanding of happiness and spirituality that is radically different from the world.
What Jesus offers in these Beatitudes are the means by which we can receive the favor and blessings of God. If you want to be blessed by God, then this is how you do it.
I mean, who wouldn’t want to be blessed by the Father. Everyone was listening but what he offers is absolutely counterculture.
Society glorifies self-reliance, might, competition, and achieving success. Sadly, those opinions have drifted into the church. You are expected to be strong, assertive, self-reliant and a perfect witness to all. No pressure, right?
Jesus who knows the Kingdom of Heaven dashes all those ideas for the truth. The Kingdom of Heaven is not what you think it is and there is no better place to begin than to talk about poverty. Spiritual poverty. Not what you would expect, right?
But the recognition of our spiritual poverty is foundational to the Christian life. If we live our lives thinking we are in good standing with God by who we are, we move away from our need for God’s grace and kingdom.
There must be this constant understanding in my heart that when it comes to my standing in good favor with God, I am helpless without Him. Only God and I know how far short I fall in being the person He wants me to become.
But more than that, Jesus is addressing the world and society as a whole and pointing out where it fails in being what God intended it to become. The standards He is setting would challenge the world then as it still challenges our world today.
As one commentator put it: His words speak directly to the challenges of modern materialism and self-centeredness, offering a counter-narrative that emphasizes spiritual values over earthly values.
His words encourage personal introspection and the pursuit of spiritual growth, emphasizing the importance of humility and dependence on God to do so.
Before I go any further, let me make one thing clear. Jesus is not asking us to think less of ourselves. That’s a strategy of the world we see everyday from being a burden to our earth and leaving a carbon footprint. The world specializes in guilt and shame.
Jesus will have not of that. He is determined to make more of you and not less.
What He wants from you is to realize that He is the supplier of your grace and the sustainer of your spiritual life. Simply put, you are broken but He is the answer.
He isn’t setting out to make you feel bad about yourself but glad for the answers to your prayers.
If you don’t sense your own spiritual need and poverty, you will never hunger and thirst after His righteousness; and if you have too high a view of yourself, you will find it difficult to be merciful to others.
Jesus wants us to be content not satisfied. He wants to give us enough assurance that we can do the work He has for us to do but not so self-assured that we don’t feel we have to do anything.
Think about it. How many Christians do you know that are actively doing something about their faith? I mean, more than showing up on Sunday though He expects you to be at His table.
How many Christians do you know who pray for others on a regular basis? How many Christians do you know that practice regular bible study? And how many Christians do you know that have gone out of their way to help another person on God’s behalf, even if it cost them personally?
Or should I just ask, have you?
Jesus is about to redefine the way the world sees and serves the Father. He is about to show them His way. And it begins by redefining our definition of happiness and success.
Right now, let me ask you, at this moment are you happy? Totally carefree without a worry in the world? Of course not. And the truth is that you will never be happy if you are waiting for everything to go your way. I have news for you, it’s not and it won’t.
The first priority in your life is and should be your spiritual well-being. If you think that means you have to be perfect, you haven’t been listening. You are spiritually bankrupt, broken by your own hand.
But Christ has paid your debt, made good on your place in heaven (He is preparing it now) and clothed you in His righteousness. And all you have to do is realize your spiritual need and go to Him for help.
If you have a daily relationship with Jesus, if you bow yourself before Him, if you want His will in your life above all things, you have His blessing and favor.
Can you imagine how that went over with the Judaizers? In a heartbeat, He had taken away all their power over the people. In a heartbeat, He had taken their measure and found them wanting.
But Jesus was just beginning. Over the next few weeks, we will watch as Jesus redefines faith or should I say, shows us what faith has been all along.
In doing so, He will confirm the worst fears of those who are seeking to kill Jesus. This is the Messiah and He is about to bring the Kingdom of God to earth and burn their playhouse to the ground.
It will cost Jesus His life but not before He has shown all mankind the way to life eternal. They will kill His body, but He will rise again and because of that, when we die, we will live again. In fact, our death will be deliverance. Our passage will be from light to light. The grave has lost its power over us. Thanks be to God.
If you are not happy right now, welcome to the world. But if you realize in your heart your spiritual poverty and are willing to place your life into His hands, congratulations, you have been blessed by God, you will not die and He will make of your life a blessing to those around you and in the process, you will finally know what it is to have peace of mind, the joy of heart and your place in the Kingdom of God.
Benediction:
As we prepare to leave your house, O Lord, may the lessons learned today stay settled in our hearts and minds. Give us the strength and courage to embrace poverty of spirit, so that we may be filled with your grace. Build our capacity for mourning, so that we are truly comforted. Instill meekness in us, so that we may inherit your eternal riches. Amen.