Sermon on the Mount- Pt 2
From Poverty to Spiritual Satisfaction
Introduction
Last week started a series on the SOTM- Mtt 5-7.
SOTM- teaching/sermon spoken by Jesus Christ.
It gives us- clear picture- mature Christian looks like.
Best known of Christ teachings- least understood.
Jesus establishes a very high standard for His people.
The SOTM in not about how we become a Christian, but about the works/fruit of one who is a Christian.
SOTM- a new way to understand life- foreign to the natural mind- produces despair in the human heart.
Such despair should turn our hearts to God for help.
First 12 verses- SOTM- known as? The Beatitudes.
Mtt 5:1-12 Read (slides)
Beatitudes are more about what God wants to do in us, than what God wants us to do.
Thoughts from Reese Blanchett …
We want to DO something, God wants us to BECOME something.
We want to depend on ourselves, God wants us to depend on HIM.
We want success, He wants holiness.
The Bible says…
we gain by losing,
we are exalted by being humble,
we rule by serving, and
we receive by giving.
These were hard words for the Jews to hear.
Jesus was telling them they would be blessed in every condition that they had been taught was a curse.
They believed-a sign of God’s blessing was prosperity
Today’s religions/philosophies are based on a …
deeper self-realization,
the Bible speaks of a
deeper God-realization.
What does- word blessed mean in each beatitude?
Blessed- can mean happy.
God is not talking about what makes us feel happy.
He is talking about what He thinks of the man or woman who lives the life of the beatitudes.
Such a person is blessed in God’s eyes.
First Beatitude- Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. V3
Not talking about material poverty.
There are times when God uses material poverty to work in our hearts spiritually.
There are times when material prosperity can be a hindrance to spiritual growth.
Pr 16:19 It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly Than to divide the spoil with the proud. NASU
Poverty here speaks of humble dependence on God.
John Stott …
The poor man in the Old Testament is one who is both afflicted and unable to save himself, and who therefore looks to God for salvation, while recognizing that he has no claim upon him.
Salvation is a free gift from God that is completely undeserved and must be received w/humility.
He only who is reduced to nothing in himself, and relies on the mercy of God, is poor in spirit. (John Calvin).
To be poor in spirit does not come through self-hatred, but through repentance from our own sin.
It is not a confession that we are worthless/no value, but rather that we are sinful, and need God.
It is God wanting to take us beyond even, “we can do it with His help”, to, “it is all about Him.”
The bed-rock of Jesus Christ’s Kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility, "I cannot begin to do it." Oswald Chamber
We must come to that place where we realize that I cannot help myself- I need God.
Lk 18:9-14 Pharisee vs Publican in prayer
Jud 6:12-15 Gideon’s call to deliver Israel
Poor in spirit- Gideon- inadequate for God’s task.
Second Beatitude- Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. V4
Today life has become the pursuit of a good time.
Alternate translation by John Stott …
Happy are the unhappy.
To mourn in this verse is not personal bereavement.
At the individual level- mourning is over personal sin.
The more we see the purity of God, the blacker our sin becomes, and the greater our mourning.
Isa 6:1-5
Even the angels of heaven covered their faces.
Mourning is the cry of a man who goes after purity in his own strength and cries out ...
Ro 7:24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? NLT
The mourning is the sorrow of recognizing our own spiritual condition/spiritual poverty before God.
I fear that we evangelical Christians, by making much of grace, sometimes thereby make light of sin. (Stott) (Quote from World Magazine)
It is those who mourn their own sinfulness who will be comforted by the forgiveness of God.
Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; NASU
Jesus wept over the sins of others and over the consequences of their sin.
Lk 19:41-44
Do we weep over the evil in the world?
Ps 119:136 Rivers of tears gush from my eyes because people disobey your instructions. NLT
DA Carson …
A person who rightly assesses himself and the world cannot but help mourn- he not only mourns for the sin of himself and mankind ... He mourns for the erosion of the very concept of truth. (DA Carson)
One who mourns has also learned to trust Jesus as the one who paid the price for their sins.
Isa 61:3 To all who mourn in Israel he will give: beauty for ashes; joy instead of mourning; praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory. TLB
Third Beatitude- Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. V5
Meekness has primarily to do with a person’s relationship to God, secondarily to other people.
Meekness- not weakness, wishy-washy, someone unsure of themselves, nor- someone who is nice.
Meekness is a controlled desire to see the other’s interests advance ahead of one’s own. (DA Carson)
Abraham did not demand his rights with Lot …
Ge 13:5-12
Moses did not defend himself against Aaron/Miriam.
Nu 12:1-13 Moses prayed for Miriam’s healing
Meek person- a person who yields quickly to the will and purposes of God for their life, w/o struggle.
Individually, too often we are more concerned with justifying ourselves rather than edifying others.
Rom 12:3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. NASU
Corporately, the church is better at organizing against some injustice- than demonstrating to the world the principles of God’s Kingdom.
The meek will inherit the earth- the opposite of the principles of this world.
In world- meek get nowhere, forceful get what- want.
2Co 6:10 Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything. NLT
Fourth Beatitude- Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness- they shall be satisfied.
Promises of scripture- made available to the hungry.
Psa 107:9 For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good. NASU
Today we seek many things other than righteousness-
spiritual maturity, happiness, power of the HS, blessings from God, spiritual experiences.
Righteousness must become as important- food/drink.
Righteousness is not some narrow-minded legalism.
What is righteousness?
It can refer to the righteousness that Christ gives to every believer as Jesus takes away their sin.
However, this righteousness is already ours because of Jesus Christ work on the cross.
If this was what was referred- Jesus would be asking us to pursue something He has already given.
There are two other aspects to righteousness …
Moral righteousness- is concern that our character and conduct please God.
It speaks of a pattern of life that hungers/thirst to be conformed to God’s will.
To such a person, God’s Word is of great value- it is- primary vehicle where we find God’s will.
Social righteousness- concern for mankind, liberation from oppression, social injustice, civil rights, etc.
To be satisfied- is to be filled w/righteousness- God gives the hungry the desires of their heart.
John 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." NASU
There is a sense in which we are satisfied w/what Jesus provides- but there is a sense also of wanting to know Him even more.
Phil 3:8-11
Paul has come to know Christ, but knowing Him, he wants to know Him even better.
Conclusion
In these first four beatitudes we see a spiritual progression …
from spiritual poverty where we recognize our spiritual condition and need of God,
to mourning over the cause of it, our own sin,
to becoming meek before God/man allowing our spiritual poverty to change our behavior,
to hungering and thirsting for righteousness, such that our conduct would please God.
Additional Thoughts
Side thought: Some complain that they read the Bible they do not long remember what it says.
The mind has two compartments- conscious and subconscious.
You do not actually forget something, it simply moves from- conscious to the subconscious mind.
It is the work of- HS to bring back to- conscious mind the things that are stored in- subconscious mind.
Jn 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. NASU
Oswald Chambers …
Some read the Bible and say they do not understand what it says, and therefore it is not of real value to them. "A truth may be of no use to you just now, but when the circumstances arises in which that truth is needed, the HS will bring it back to your remembrance.”
