The Life Blessed by God
Matt 5:1-11
1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
I have preached two sermons connecting the Old and New Testaments. The first highlighted Jesus as the Word of God, the best revelation of God that we have or will get. The Second looked at the Old Testament prophecies looking forward to the New Covenant and therefore we would expect more Scriptures. We need to know how to live within our covenant. Is it any different? Well, there are going to be some differences, and we will see that in a couple of weeks. But, for today let’s follow this logic. Jesus is full of grace and truth John 1:14. Grace is what God has done and is doing to bring us life. Truth is what we need to know in order to access grace! There are things we need to know!
That brings us to Jesus’ teaching. What did Jesus teach about how we are to live in the New Covenant?
- The New Covenant is Living in the Kingdom of God
- The Kingdom is brought by Jesus
Matt 4: 17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven (God) is at hand.”
The same message as John the Baptist: Matt 3: 1-2 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
- The Kingdom of God can be missed
This is why the emphasis on repentance. Repentance will make one careful to listen! They probably thought repentance was in case they were too late. But in reality it is an issue that relates to deafness.
Mark 4: 24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
And from your understanding of the ministry of Jesus, was the kingdom missed or not by the Jews? Why?
Just after the temptation:
Luke 4: 14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy[g] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.
- The Kingdom of God is personal
Not political. It is the internal rule of God in you as opposed to the external rule of God over the Gentiles.
The Kingdom of God is the power and plan of God to free you from the power of sin in you! So, if Jesus is preaching the kingdom, this is what we should expect Him to be preaching about!
Luke 4: Continued:
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
The people do not accept Who Jesus is. The people do not like His confrontation of this in their lives. (When God does things you don’t understand and you turn your back…)
And the people do not like the nature of the Kingdom of God as revealed by Jesus. (They don’t want the gentle baby donkey of Matthew 21 . They want the white horse of Revelation 19:11 and the armies of heaven accompanying.)
The sermon on the mount as the most concentrated collection of Jesus’ teachings on living in the New Covenant, with contrasts to how folks were living in the Old Covenant presently!
- Blessing in the New Covenant
- Blessing is God giving the good life
Blessing is what we want out of life. It is abundant life. And it is what God gives to people for life! If you look up blessing in a concordance, you will find two books in the OT and one place in the New Testament that makes this a focus. It’s Genesis and Deuteronomy in the OT and the Sermon on the Mount in the NT.
Genesis 1:27 God created them: Existence with a purpose
Genesis 1:28 God blessed them: The carrying out of the goodness, wisdom, love and power of God on behalf of the blessed. This is obviously God’s created purpose.
Genesis 3: a curse on sinful behavior
Genesis 4: curses on sinful behavior
Genesis 6: the spiral of curses ends in judgement and destruction. Death on a creation wide scale.
Genesis 9: A curse on Ham for sin
Genesis 11: A curse on people at Babel because of sin
Genesis 12,15,17: God promises to bless Abraham and his seed.
Deuteronomy 28 is the clearest example of this: Provision, Protection and Peoplehood. These are the blessings of God!
Deuteronomy 30: 15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
And the people struggled mightily to experience the consistent blessing of God because just knowing what to do was not good enough!!
There has not been a prophet for 400 years and the silence is broken by John and then Jesus. Cousins born less than a year apart. The people are primed to hear the Revelation of God from them.
John 10: I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly.
- The source of blessing is inside of you
The kingdom is within you. God’s rule will manifest itself inside of you. If it is not manifested, then you are not ruled by God and are missing His kingdom!
Luke 17: 20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
Discuss the “in you” vs. “in your midst” idea.
Combine this with John 14:16-17 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
- What is inside is demonstrated in behavior
Matthew 12: 22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” (These are the words that Jesus is condemning in the verses following) 25 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (The problem is not the manifestation of the words, but the heart that turns them loose! They are resisting the work of the Holy Spirit inside of them, the Holy Spirit is God’s agent of conviction, truth revelation, regeneration, and power for change. The Holy Spirit IS NEW LIFE!)
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.(Inside they are rotten. They reject the work of the Holy Spirit in convicting them of sin, righteousness and judgment, bringing damnation on themselves) 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (This is why Jesus spends so much time in John’s gospel talking about not worrying about the approval of men, like the Pharisees!) 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
III. The Blessed Life
The fact that the first information given to us by Matthew about what Jesus taught is about blessing should not be a surprise. It is what God wants us to experience and it’s what God wants us to demonstrate!
- Attitudes that produce faithful obedience
These attitudes are not in conflict in any way with the commands to keep the law in the OT! In fact, they are the foundation of faithful obedience!! And there is a sense in which many of these attitudes would be thought to be a curse, and they are not!! God is at work giving blessing to those who follow Jesus’ teaching.
Poor in spirit: An awareness of spiritual need. Spiritual humility. God is good, I am not. I am sinful and require God’s mercy to not be immediately condemned for my sinfulness.
Mourn: A broken and contrite heart over personally failing to reflect the image of God. So you are a sinner. Does that matter? Everyone else is too! But at some point we must realize that our interactions with God are personal!
Meekness (Gentleness): Careful with yourself, others and God. Submission to God and service to Him and others.
Hunger and Thirst for righteousness: A realization that it is righteousness that produces life! Righteousness is its own reward.
Merciful: Extending the mercy that God has shown you to others. We live in a mercy based economy. All of our existence is bathed in mercy.
Pure in Heart: Having one’s motives and desires completely lined up with God’s for us. Learning to seek God’s good desires instead of what we want.
(Pull of greed, pull of sensuality, pull of selfish competitive desire.)
Peacemakers: Promoting peace between people and God, and between people and people. Peace is rooted in contentment of heart. Contentment of heart is rooted in peace with God and His plans and purposes for our lives. Serving, giving, blessing others, celebrating others.
Persecuted for righteousness sake: In all things blessed by God. Resurrection power! The kingdom of God does not require only good things in order to be manifested in your life.
Phil 3: 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
I Peter 4:1,2 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.
I really mean it, Persecuted: 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
How can persecution come to one who is submitted to the kingdom of God?!!!!
This is the topic of the last half of Romans 8, and the Book of Revelation!
- The blessings given by God
The riches of the kingdom of heaven (they belong to heaven, and heaven belongs to them, even though they do not deserve it.) for those who are poor in spirit
Comfort for those who mourn (forgiveness, acceptance and love)
Inherit the earth: The greatest inheritance now: for the gentle (My God shall supply all your needs according to His great riches in Christ Jesus!) (If you are full of covetous and striving, what you have will have you!)
Satisfaction, fully met desire, for those hungry for righteousness. Desire eats away at life. Contentment splashes about in life, celebrating its every manifestation!
A full understanding of mercy received (I know that God has forgiven me. And I know that it is not because of me, so I am secure!) for those giving mercy
They shall see God: (A clear view of God’s character, purposes and person) for the one who is pure in heart
They shall be called sons of God: (A real identity, connected to the character of God. Reflecting the love, mercy, goodness, patience etc. of God) (They will know you are Christians by your love) For those who are peacemakers. Jesus was a peacemaker! He was God’s only begotten son! Peace on earth, good will toward man!
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven: (co-heirs with Jesus Christ, blessed with every spiritual blessing in heaven!) For the persecuted.
Romans 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Great is your reward in heaven: when you are persecuted because of Jesus.
No really, the persecuted. It was not strange in the past for God’s people to encounter suffering, it will not be strange in the future!
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