BLESSED - inward happiness. A perfect blessedness is intended. The biggest factor in being blessed is realizing that you are blessed. Without recognition and awareness, you won’t even realize that you area blessed. When we were in language school in Costa Rica with others preparing to go to the mission field, I was in a class with one couple who were genuinely Godly people but neither of physically attractive. In making a statement in Spanish he was referring to his wife and said, “Para me ella es muy guapa”. That means, “To me she is very beautiful”. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, blessedness is in the eye of the beholder. When we can accept the fact that God bestows His mercy on us rather then His justice then we can experience his mercy and grace and have hearts that are overflowing with gratitude. Being blessed is based more on our inner condition than it is on outward circumstances.
1. BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT.
The poor of this world are usually the rich in spirit and faith. The wealthy often feel that they don’t need God. Of course there are exceptions to that because there are Christians with a lot of money who are rich in spirit but generally speaking, the poor have a better spirit and attitude than wealthy people. Being poor in spirit does not mean that one is spiritually poor. Being poor in spirit is having a consciousness that one’s deepest needs are being met. It is a self-emptying conviction that before God we are void of everything. Without this conviction, we are unable to access the deepest riches of Christ. You cannot know the greatest blessings if you constantly complain. It’s because you are never satisfied. You always want more.
Man’s acknowledgement of his own impoverishment opens the way for the reception of God’s blessings. It is precisely when man sees his own nothingness that God can give out of His fullness. Matthew stresses the blessedness of freedom from the tyranny of outward things, living under the rule of heaven rather than the rule of earthly goods.
FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
It is they shall have and do now have the kingdom. It is both present and future. How much have you already inherited? That’s entirely up to you. The more grateful you are, the more blessed you are. I shared about the Haitian pastors who walked two days to attend the National Assembly. I’m sure they didn’t complain. They are just grateful to have the opportunity to serve God. They own a pretty big chunk of the Kingdom now and the best is yet to come.
So the poor in spirit are enriched with the fullness of Christ which is the Kingdom in substance. Your humble attitude and desire to know Him allow the Kingdom to be ushered in to your life now. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
2. BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED.
Not all mourning is blessed and much sorrow finds no comfort.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Rev 21.4. In Rev 21.7 we find these words, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things”. No matter how much we suffer for God during this life, we will be richly repaid. The Psalmist said, “Weeping lasts for the night but joy comes in the morning” Psalms 30.4.
3. BLESSED ARE THE MEEK FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH.
The meek are happy. The meek are those who quietly submit to God; who can bear insult; are silent, or return a soft answer; who, in their patience, keep possession of their own souls, when they can scarcely keep possession of anything else. These meek ones are happy, even in this world. Meekness promotes wealth, comfort, and safety, even in this world. (Matthew Henry).
Story of porter at airport by Zig Ziglar.
This beatitude is a repeat of Ps 37.11, “But the humble will inherit the land and will enjoy abundant prosperity”. Does this mean that if we are humble that we will have material prosperity?
Ps 37.4 says, “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your hearts desires”. This doesn’t mean that if we want a new Mercedes that all we have to do is act like we delight in the Lord. When we do indeed truly take delight in the Lord and our hearts are one with His, our desires will be different. We won’t focus on material things but we will be forever seeking to please Him and when we do, we will inherit it all.
Read Rev 21.1-8
The New Heaven and Earth
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them2,
4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”
6 Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.
7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Story of man who died and had an incredible art collection—Whoever gets the son gets it all.
This paradox belongs to the larger teaching which sees that one lives by dying, receives by giving, and is first precisely when willing to be last.
4. BLESSED ARE THEY WHICH DO HUNGER AND THRIST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS: FOR THEY SHALL BE FILLED.
Rev. 21.6 that we just read addresses this, “I will give to the thirsty from the spring of living water as a gift”.
In John 7.38 our Lord said, “The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him”.
Have you ever been a little bit hungry and didn’t know what you wanted to eat? You ate something and it didn’t satisfy you so you ate something else and that still didn’t satisfy you so you continued to eat and finally you realize that nothing is satisfying you. You are bloated because you overate yet you are hungrier now than when you first started. That’s how it is when you devour the world’s goods. You can never find satisfaction.
Contrast that to being hungry for a good meal. You are hungry and eat that which is good. You find satisfaction and you don’t feel the need to continue to eat. This is how it is with hungering and thirsting after the things of God. You will be filled and satisfied completely when your desire is to know and serve Him and Him alone. Be aware that this only works when we do it on a full time basis. When our hunger only exists for a couple of hours on Sundays, we will never be filled or satisfied. Just as your body can’t eat one meal a week, our spiritual lives need continual multi-daily nourishing.
5. BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL: FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY.
In Ps 18.25 the writer said, “With the merciful You will show yourself merciful”. In the parable of the talents, one man was forgiven of his debt of ten thousand talents. His lack of gratitude was shown by his unwillingness to forgive one who owed him only one hundred pence. When he imprisoned this man, the master’s anger was stirred up. God does not look lovingly on us when we won’t forgive others of debts or actions when He has forgiven us so much. It shows that we have little, if any, gratitude for the mercy He has shown to us.
If God decided to grant us the same amount of mercy that we show others, I, for one, would be in deep yogurt. I am grateful that His mercy is so incredible and that I am a recipient of it. What are some ways we show mercy toward others?
Being kind to a clerk even though the store doesn’t have what we want. Holding the door for someone else. Letting other drivers in front of us. Saying thank you, even to your spouse for doing something that they were expected to
do.
Thanking someone for teaching your Sunday School class even if they blew it. Not saying anything to your wife even though she was twenty minutes late. Performing random acts of kindness.
Being kind to someone who has been rude to you.
If Jesus were here today in bodily form and you thought He had a need, would you go to Him and ask if He needed a meal or a place to stay tonight? If He needed some water to drink, would you get Him some? If He needed something to wear, would you share your wardrobe with Him? Really, now wouldn’t you give Him your very best clothing and lament that it wasn’t better? Would you go out of your way to meet any need that He had?
In Matt 25.35, our Lord said, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for me”. Further down He said, “Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.”
6. BLESED ARE THE PURE IN HEART BECAUSE THEY WILL SEE GOD.
If our life is governed by a rigid set of external regulations and our moral lives are without blemish, we can still be impure in heart. External behavior is normally a reflection of our inner spirit but there are times when we can behave properly on the outside and our hearts are far from Him. On the other side, if our hearts are pure, there will be an outward manifestation of our purity in righteous behavior. Many a Christian including ministers, have fallen because their hearts and mouths were out of synchronization. They talked the talk and tried to walk the walk but inwardly, their walk was an act.
There are all too many of us (and we are all guilty of this from time to time) whose lives are an act. We act like we are good Christians. We put on a good show. We talk the talk. We even walk the walk but our motivation is not to know God. It is to create an appearance. Eventually, that act will crumble and we will fall.
Build a strong foundation. That foundation will not be built at church. It will come in your devotion to Him and the time you spend alone with Him. If your quiet time is weak and short, you are treading on thin ice. You cannot build a strong foundation by service and attendance alone. Those things should be an outgrowth of your inner commitment. It is very important to be at church and to be involved in service but they are nearly as important as your motivation. Why do you suppose it is that we attend church and serve when our inner spiritual development is weak?
7. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED THE CHILDREN OF GOD.
I Cor. 5.19-20 In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.” Peace is far more than the ending of war and strife. It is, for the Christian, the reconciliation of men to God. It is missions, it is evangelism, it is caring, it is witnessing, it is counseling, it is physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. If we are not going about reconciling men to God, how will we be able to stand before God on Judgment Day and claim that we served Him?
8. BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO ARE PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS BECAUSE THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS THEIRS.
Read verses 10-12
There is such a thing as suffering because of what we have done wrong. This kind of suffering merits no eternal reward. I heard the story of a woman who said to someone, “They persecuted my Lord and now they’re persecuting me.” The person replied, “Yes, but you must remember that on the day they persecuted Him that they persecuted three people and two of them deserved it”. Sometimes we suffer because we deserve it but sometimes we suffer because we have done good.
There are even times when we haven’t done anything, good or bad, that people will attack us as Christians. Some people will persecute us simply because we are Christians. Perhaps some people hate God but are afraid to admit that if they openly oppose God that He will retaliate it so they attack His people instead of Him. That won’t make God’s vindication any less. He will take care of them when the time comes. Our concern should not be whether God will punish them but how we react in the face of a malicious, unwarranted attack. We can fight back but we are unlikely to win an argument or battle with them. Or we can quietly and meekly let them vent their wrath. Pray that God will give you wisdom to know when to speak and when to just be silent. Let the life you live always be a testimony to God’s power and glory. If you have not lived a righteous life around the person attacking you, you have already lost the battle.
The peacemaker cannot be easily endured by a contentious, quarrelsome world. They attack us because our faith is counter to the way they want to live their lives. By making us look bad, they feel they can discredit God and everything He teaches. Don’t be suckered into letting them make you look bad by either your lifestyle or your response to their vicious attacks.
CONCLUSION
Jesus tried to teach men how to live. All of His ministry He did this by example and His teachings. The Sermon On The Mount, I believe, is the apex of His teaching. These beatitudes will help us to build a solid foundation for our Christian character and without a solid foundation, much of the other lessons we could learn will be mere head knowledge. Christian character counts. In fact, it counts more than what we do.
I hope you understand the spirit in what I’m about to say because I am not trying to brag. I have been a pastor, a Minister of Education, a missionary, a Chairman of Deacons in two churches, served on the pastor search committee, and a host of other things. I have known men who have served in all of these capacities who were scoundrels. Having done anything for God doesn’t make me special. None of these things means anything. They do not elevate me to any elevated status in God’s eyes and should not in man’s eyes. The only thing that matters is my character. I will not be blessed because of any task I have completed or any service rendered because I wanted to be a leader. What will bring me blessings will be what we have talked about this morning. It is my spirit and desire to be obedient to Him that counts.
Please don’t think that I am saying that service isn’t important. It is an outcome of a loving and grateful heart. But if I am serving to be seen by men, then that is a sin an will merit not rewards but punishment.
The story is told of two angels who were dispatched to earth to serve. One was assigned to be the pastor of a great congregation and the other to clean toilets in filthy tenement house in a major city. They accepted their assignments with equal joy because they considered it privilege to serve God. It doesn’t matter if you serve in a recognized position in the church or behind the doors doing something no one else would like taking care of our precious little ones. God will bless you for who you are and the attitude with which you serve because your attitude is more important than your position.
