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Blessed, Part 1
Introduction to Sermon on Mount

3 friends and I attended a bible conference a few years back in Minnesota. The conference was very good and we were having a great time. Next on the schedule was a speaker I had never heard of and he was speaking on the topic of heaven. Usually at the big conferences you look forward to the well known speakers, so I did not have high expectations as Dr. Storms rose to speak. Over the next 1 hour and 15 minutes, I kept moving forward in my seat, my heart was racing, my mind was in overdrive thinking and seeing heaven in ways I had never imagined and by the end of the talk without even thinking I rose to my feet and applauded as loudly as I could. No doubt in my mind, God talked to me that day through Dr. Storms. Truly, I was blown away and so my act of worship to God was to applaud this man for his prayerful research, his obedient diligence to the movement of the Holy Spirit. 

The sermon on the mount was a sermon delivered by Jesus himself. I wondered what I would feel or what I would experience if I had the opportunity to hear the son of God deliver a speech. If I reacted like I did to Dr. Storms speech, then what would happen at the conclusion of Jesus’ sermon?  The book of Matthew reports how the crowd responded to Jesus’ sermon on the hillside in Matthew 7:28-29 “When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying—quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard.” Dallas Willard wrote “The Beatitudes of Jesus…are among the literary and religious treasures of the human race. Along with the Ten Commandments, the Twenty-Third Psalm, the Lord’s Prayer, and a very few other passages from the Bible, they are acknowledged by almost everyone to be among the highest expressions of religious insight and moral inspiration.” 

Please turn to Matthew chapter 5 because not only is this text considered to be among the best literature in the world and most important biblical texts, but also if you have ever wondered why do I read my bible, or why do I come to church, or why do I pray this passage will not just give you an answer but it will firmly establish that hope is available to you. Maybe you don’t feel good enough, or you’re not spiritual enough, or you were pretty bad and you don’t know if there is forgiveness for what you’ve done. Maybe there is a sin you did and you can’t forgive yourself, so you think that means Jesus can’t forgive you. Jesus’ sermon is exactly what you need. Jesus has promises for us, great and wonderful promises for every kind of person. The setting where Jesus preached was this: Jesus and his team healed every kind of sickness. People came from everywhere to see Jesus, to be healed and to hear his teachings. Jesus taught all who desired to listen on the promises of the available kingdom. 

Matthew 5:1-11 “Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people insult you…” 

This first part of the sermon on the mount is called the Beatitudes. The reason for the name is due to the word blessed being said 10 times. Blessed means happiness, joy-filled, favored and fortunate. The Latin term for happiness is beatitudo. This portion therefore tells us happy are these people because the kingdom of God is available to them. The word blessed in the original Greek is makarios and it refers to the highest type of well-being possible for humans. 

So, the beatitudes are all about telling us how we can find happiness and joy; but, would it surprise you to know that people have left the Christian church over the Beatitudes. Many in our church are strong, ambitious intelligent, and successful, and if they are told that they have to be poor, sad, weak and mild to be the ideal Christian they would seriously question whether they could find their identity in Christianity. But, is that what we are supposed to do with the Beatitudes – be like that? Many people think so, but they are mistaken.

Principle: Many people I have heard speak on this have echoed blessed are the poor, the mourning, the meek, the hungry, the merciful and the pure and they have taught us that these are the characteristics or conditions that we must meet to get into the kingdom. They call us to mourn and become meek as if it is our entrance fee into the kingdom. You know what is interesting is how we try so hard to make this something we can attain; we try to make ourselves worthy or merit the goodness given to us. If mourning and weeping was the entry ticket to the kingdom we have two problems (1) not all people who are weeping are in the kingdom, and (2) we can make ourselves cry so that would make our entry to the kingdom based on our own efforts rather than God’s doing.

These are not conditions to get in but Jesus is pointing out all of the classes of people who are in the kingdom. The point of the list is not to limit it or exclude others, but to show the broad inclusion of all kinds of people in the kingdom. So, the emphasis should be properly placed on the second half of the verses wherein we discover the blessings of the kingdom. The kingdom offers comfort, satisfaction and mercy. The gospel of the kingdom is that no one is beyond hope because the kingdom is open to all people no matter your condition. The main point Jesus is making is the availability of the kingdom of heaven is for everyone. All classes of people are permitted in; all races, all nationalities, all professions, the kingdom is available to everyone – the wealthy and the homeless, those who have been religious forever and those who know very little about religion; those who take the world by storm and those who are overwhelmed by everything. The kingdom is available to all. 

Let me demonstrate this through the first beatitude – blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. Jesus declares blessed are the spiritual zeroes, the spiritually bankrupt, the deprived and deficient spiritual beggars – those without a hint of religion – these spiritual zeroes are blessed because the kingdom has come upon them. Standing around Jesus were people with no spiritual qualifications or abilities at all. These would not be people you would call on to lead ministries. They didn’t know the bible, their prayers were simple and not eloquent. They were mere laypeople who could fill a chair. We don’t call on them to lead prayer, and they might faint if anyone did. They are the first to tell you that they cannot make heads or tails of religion. In that day the Pharisees, or the most religious elite were to be honored and they were considered the most blessed. While they looked great on the outside with all their religious actions, their inside was spiritually void. They did not right attitudes and motivations, but they did their spiritual actions as a performance for all the world to see how spiritual they were. The average person thought the Pharisee was blessed, but Jesus looked at the so-called spiritual zeroes, the spiritually bankrupt and declared they were blessed not the empty religious elitists. 

There has been struggle for centuries over translating the Beatitudes. The struggle reflects our intense need to find in the beatitude-condition something good, something God desires, that can serve as a basis for the blessing God promises. Often, we read the beatitudes as something that is attainable, for if we can attain the condition then we merit entrance into the kingdom. If I can learn to be poor in spirit, then I can be kingdom citizen. Jesus did not say, blessed are the poor in spirit because they are poor in spirit. He did not think, “what a fine thing it is to be destitute of every spiritual attainment or void of every spiritual quality.” We focus on the spiritual poverty, when the real emphasis is on the availability of the kingdom of heaven. We actually read this as a qualification that can be achieved to enter the kingdom. Those poor in spirit are called blessed not because they are in a meritorious condition, but they are blessed because although they are in a spiritually deplorable condition the kingdom is available to even them. The beatitudes are not a reward of the spiritual states; it is not because a person is poor in spirit that he enters the kingdom; instead, he is blessed because the kingdom is available to a person in that condition. 

The Beatitudes are not teachings on what conditions need to be met in order to receive God’s blessing; they are not instructions to do anything. They don’t indicate conditions that are especially pleasing to God or good for human beings. No one is being told that they are better off for being poor, for mourning, or for being persecuted. These statements single out cases that provide proof that Jesus’ kingdom is available to people in every life circumstance that seems to be beyond all hope. Jesus is saying that the kingdom is available to all those people who seem to be beyond hope. Jesus turned to his students and listed groups of people who were blessed as the kingdom came upon them – the poor, the hungry, the grief-stricken, the hated, and the hurting. The sermon on the mount proves to all that no human condition excludes blessedness, that God may come to any person with his care and deliverance. 

Application: Who are the so-called “hopeless” people around you? Who are the people that are experiencing such terrible circumstances that the world would say they are beyond hope? Who are the unfortunate people around you? We have people all around us who would confess to feeling unfortunate, who feel that their condition is hopeless. What does the sermon on the mount mean in light of them? As you consider the so-called unfortunate and beyond hope consider this the unfortunate soul may be more blessed then you. What? Yes, the person experiencing unfavorable, hopeless conditions maybe a citizen of the kingdom since the kingdom since it is available to all classes of people no matter how unfortunate their situation. The first application is to open your eyes to the truth that the kingdom you desire will be shared by every class of people – every race, every nationality, the wealthiest to the homeless, men, women and children. Our discriminations against people have no place in the kingdom – Jesus knocked down every last discrimination.

All the world’s a stage…all the world’s not a stage.

The banners we have placed on the walls are our theme for 2008 as we study Jesus’ sermon. Shakespeare once said, “All the world’s a stage and the men and women are merely players.” Jesus was challenging the people whether they were spiritual performers acting spiritually for others to see. For these people, the kingdom is not available, but for all people who are spiritual for an empty audience except for one – God himself – the kingdom was available. Over this week, begin to evaluate your outwardly spiritual actions…when do you do them…who sees them…why do you do them…is there any spiritual act you do as a performer for others to see and think of you highly or do you do them for God?