Beatitudes
This is it. The beginning of Jesus's ministry sets apart His teaching from that of the other Jewish leaders in Israel. Up to this point, Matthew has pointed to Jesus as the promised Messiah in His genealogy, in the time period and location and even the predecessor, John the Baptist. But when Jesus sits for His first sermon He is teaching something never taught before in a way nothing had ever been taught before.
The first set of instructions became known as the Beatitudes and in part one we will examine the first 12 verses. It is difficult to explain just how radically different Jesus's teaching is from all those who came before Him. Jesus is teaching with authority and does not appeal to previous prophets to obtain that authority. Read these verses located at the bottom of this script and return to read this afterwards.
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In these verses Jesus is emphasizing how believers can be Blessed. The attitudes a believer must have come from inner motivation, not physical acts. So what does it mean to be poor in spirit? It does not mean a state of semi-Permanent depression. To be poor in spirit is to have the concept firmly in mind that you need God in your life.
That there is nothing special to me that makes me better or worse than another individual, that I am not good, not deserving and at one point we were enemies of God and in spite of it all God loves us. He wants to bless us but won't do so against our will. Those who lack humility are not poor in spirit and God's kingdom does not belong to these.
When Jesus says “Blessed are those who mourn” who is He referring to? Those mourning the loss of a loved one? Those mourning the sad state of the Israeli nation under Roman rule? The word “mourning” means “to feel deep sorrow, to show great concern, or to deplore some existing wrong.” Again an incorrect interpretation would lead us to believe that Jesus is encouraging us to be in a constant state of depression.
He's not saying that. (Although it would explain the state of many American churches.) He's saying that we should have a level of empathy as Christians realizing that just as we might be mourning one day, others may be mourning on another day and we should be comforted and comforting others. And if as a people we are comforting others, we will be blessed.
Jesus then addresses the gentle, translated ‘meek’ elsewhere. Meek is defined as great power, used rightly. Some unfortunately conflate meek with weak and completely misunderstand this verse. (Although, that too would explain the state of many American churches.) Jesus isn't praising a namby pamby person incapable of taking a stand. He's saying that the one with great ability and power under control, these gentle, humble people with immense strength they keep in check will one day inherit the earth. Why? Because those not in the kingdom won't be around to lay claim to it.
Now Jesus speaks on the importance of hungering and thirsting for righteousness. What does he mean here? He's saying that one's desire for righteousness, to stand before God rightly, must be so intense and so internal that he calls it a hungering and thirsting. Are we truly hungering for righteousness? Sometimes I fear my motivations may be for the wrong reasons. We should pursue righteousness with our hearts desiring to get closer with Christ. Jesus promises that if we do, we will be satisfied.
When Jesus says “Blessed are the merciful.” He was talking to us. That may seem kind of easy to say until
you realize that Christians can be some of the most unforgiving folks on the planet. Jesus is clearly saying that those who exhibit mercy will receive mercy. It is our duty as Christians to show mercy. When I had difficulty doing so, God showed me that some of my own actions had led someone to have the same unforgiving attitude towards me that I have had against others. So I must be willing to be as merciful to others as I want them to be toward me.
The term, ‘pure In heart’ refers to an undivided heart devoted to God. Jesus is saying that those with sincere devotion to God, with pure intentions will see God. And again, the emphasis here is on the internal struggle to keep ones’ heart from being divided. Understand this, though, we cannot include non believers in this as outside of Him one cannot be pure of heart. Jesus is speaking to his followers. Is our heart completely and wholly devoted to God or are we struggling to put Him first? That's the question we have to answer if we wish to see God.
Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers. We can't misunderstand this passage. A peacemaker is not someone who advocates for peace no matter the cost. A peacemaker is not someone who compromises with false teaching for the idea of bringing peace. We cannot ‘make peace’ with a lie if we are of the truth.
A peacemaker is someone who actively pursues reconciliation not someone who does nothing waiting for peace to happen. A peacemaker will work to bring parties together, as God did with us. We were separated from God by sin, and God didn't compromise truth to reconcile us to Himself. He provided Jesus. If we behave as God did, we will be called Sons of God.
Sometimes however when we try to be peacemakers with some people, they have no interest in maintaining peace, and if we don't compromise truth we will be attacked. But Jesus assures us here that if we are doing everything right that we will be persecuted. It is only if we do that that we can say that the kingdom belongs to us.
But the persecution will in many cases continue. It will cause some to insult us, persecute us and even lie about us. Jesus is warning us that if we do everything right, yes we will be blessed, but it will come at a cost. The treatment of God's people has always been poor when dealing with persecution.
Remember that the spirit influencing the persecution is facing limited time and an eternity of punishment for his rebellion, he has nothing to lose in stealing from, beating or killing us, and he holds great influence over these people doing the persecuting.
The question we have to ask is do we truly desire God's blessing? Because it's going to cause a change in how we live our lives. Every day it's a conscious decision to act as a Beatitudes infused Christian. Some days it takes more prayer than others. And realize this, in this life, we won't win every round against darkness. Sometimes the devil wins and a believer is killed, robbed or treated entirely unfairly. Jesus's promise is that the reward in Heaven will be great.
Next time we will look at how Jesus sees our role in life as salt and light.
Matthew 5:1-12
[1] Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. [2] And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying, [3] “ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [4] “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. [5] “Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth. [6] “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. [7] “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. [8] “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. [9] “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. [10] “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [11] “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. [12] Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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Beatitudes
This is it. The beginning of Jesus's ministry sets apart His teaching from that of the other Jewish leaders in Israel. Up to this point, Matthew has pointed to Jesus as the promised Messiah in His genealogy, in the time period and location and even the predecessor, John the Baptist. But when Jesus sits for His first sermon He is teaching something never taught before in a way nothing had ever been taught before.
The first set of instructions became known as the Beatitudes and in part one we will examine the first 12 verses. It is difficult to explain just how radically different Jesus's teaching is from all those who came before Him. Jesus is teaching with authority and does not appeal to previous prophets to obtain that authority. Read these verses located at the bottom of this script and return to read this afterwards.
*
In these verses Jesus is emphasizing how believers can be Blessed. The attitudes a believer must have come from inner motivation, not physical acts. So what does it mean to be poor in spirit? It does not mean a state of semi-Permanent depression. To be poor in spirit is to have the concept firmly in mind that you need God in your life.
That there is nothing special to me that makes me better or worse than another individual, that I am not good, not deserving and at one point we were enemies of God and in spite of it all God loves us. He wants to bless us but won't do so against our will. Those who lack humility are not poor in spirit and God's kingdom does not belong to these.
When Jesus says “Blessed are those who mourn” who is He referring to? Those mourning the loss of a loved one? Those mourning the sad state of the Israeli nation under Roman rule? The word “mourning” means “to feel deep sorrow, to show great concern, or to deplore some existing wrong.” Again an incorrect interpretation would lead us to believe that Jesus is encouraging us to be in a constant state of depression.
He's not saying that. (Although it would explain the state of many American churches.) He's saying that we should have a level of empathy as Christians realizing that just as we might be mourning one day, others may be mourning on another day and we should be comforted and comforting others. And if as a people we are comforting others, we will be blessed.
Jesus then addresses the gentle, translated ‘meek’ elsewhere. Meek is defined as great power, used rightly. Some unfortunately conflate meek with weak and completely misunderstand this verse. (Although, that too would explain the state of many American churches.) Jesus isn't praising a namby pamby person incapable of taking a stand. He's saying that the one with great ability and power under control, these gentle, humble people with immense strength they keep in check will one day inherit the earth. Why? Because those not in the kingdom won't be around to lay claim to it.
Now Jesus speaks on the importance of hungering and thirsting for righteousness. What does he mean here? He's saying that one's desire for righteousness, to stand before God rightly, must be so intense and so internal that he calls it a hungering and thirsting. Are we truly hungering for righteousness? Sometimes I fear my motivations may be for the wrong reasons. We should pursue righteousness with our hearts desiring to get closer with Christ. Jesus promises that if we do, we will be satisfied.
When Jesus says “Blessed are the merciful.” He was talking to us. That may seem kind of easy to say until
you realize that Christians can be some of the most unforgiving folks on the planet. Jesus is clearly saying that those who exhibit mercy will receive mercy. It is our duty as Christians to show mercy. When I had difficulty doing so, God showed me that some of my own actions had led someone to have the same unforgiving attitude towards me that I have had against others. So I must be willing to be as merciful to others as I want them to be toward me.
The term, ‘pure In heart’ refers to an undivided heart devoted to God. Jesus is saying that those with sincere devotion to God, with pure intentions will see God. And again, the emphasis here is on the internal struggle to keep ones’ heart from being divided. Understand this, though, we cannot include non believers in this as outside of Him one cannot be pure of heart. Jesus is speaking to his followers. Is our heart completely and wholly devoted to God or are we struggling to put Him first? That's the question we have to answer if we wish to see God.
Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers. We can't misunderstand this passage. A peacemaker is not someone who advocates for peace no matter the cost. A peacemaker is not someone who compromises with false teaching for the idea of bringing peace. We cannot ‘make peace’ with a lie if we are of the truth.
A peacemaker is someone who actively pursues reconciliation not someone who does nothing waiting for peace to happen. A peacemaker will work to bring parties together, as God did with us. We were separated from God by sin, and God didn't compromise truth to reconcile us to Himself. He provided Jesus. If we behave as God did, we will be called Sons of God.
Sometimes however when we try to be peacemakers with some people, they have no interest in maintaining peace, and if we don't compromise truth we will be attacked. But Jesus assures us here that if we are doing everything right that we will be persecuted. It is only if we do that that we can say that the kingdom belongs to us.
But the persecution will in many cases continue. It will cause some to insult us, persecute us and even lie about us. Jesus is warning us that if we do everything right, yes we will be blessed, but it will come at a cost. The treatment of God's people has always been poor when dealing with persecution.
Remember that the spirit influencing the persecution is facing limited time and an eternity of punishment for his rebellion, he has nothing to lose in stealing from, beating or killing us, and he holds great influence over these people doing the persecuting.
The question we have to ask is do we truly desire God's blessing? Because it's going to cause a change in how we live our lives. Every day it's a conscious decision to act as a Beatitudes infused Christian. Some days it takes more prayer than others. And realize this, in this life, we won't win every round against darkness. Sometimes the devil wins and a believer is killed, robbed or treated entirely unfairly. Jesus's promise is that the reward in Heaven will be great.
Next time we will look at how Jesus sees our role in life as salt and light.
Matthew 5:1-12
[1] Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. [2] And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying, [3] “ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [4] “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. [5] “Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth. [6] “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. [7] “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. [8] “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. [9] “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. [10] “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [11] “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. [12] Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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