I often hear from people "I just want to be happy" or "whatever makes you happy!" Yet, we should look at what people are looking to make themselves happy. Some folks find happiness in material things--stuff. If I can just by that new car, that new house, a state-of-the art computer, the best clothing and so on.
Some folks are looking for happiness in another person. If only I could just find that perfect man, the young girl says; if only I could find that special woman, the young man says; if only my spouse would be the man or woman that they really should be then life would be complete.
Some people are looking for happiness in their jobs. The jump from job to job, city to city or state to state looking for the perfect job with the only constant in their life is that change itself.
Some folks are looking for happiness in money. If I could make more money, I could have the nicer car, the perfect home, move to the perfect place, attract the perfect spouse, and my job would be happy, happy, happy.
However, each one of the above are huge fake outs. If you seek happiness in stuff, you will never ever get the best of all things. If you seek to fulfill your life in a person thinking that all will be perfect, you are sadly mistaken; relationships, even the best ones, have their ups and downs, their good times and bad. If you think you will ever find the perfect job, you lose sight of the fact that you will be dealing with imperfect people and they will at times spoil your day. Lastly, money isn't the answer because the more you have the more you want.
However, the real answer--taught by Jesus Himself in part of the greatest sermon of all time--is looked on by most unsaved as the downright craziest of all notions at casual reading: You will be happy if you are poor, if you weep, if you are a 98 pound weakling, if you give mercy , if you butt in and help make peace between two people, if you are beaten up or killed for what you believe. Why, that is ludicrous! That is stupid! That is messed up! However, we will learn this week that the above scripture is not what it seems.--JH
And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted." Matthew 5:1-2
Before You Can Be A Happy Man...
Jesus was known for His compassion. While many of the religions of the world are waiting for their "god figure" to lower the boom on them for even the smallest infraction, Jesus sought out the lost. It did not matter if they were rich or poor, famous or insignificant by the terms of society, handsome or homely, healthy or sick, small or great. What did matter, and Jesus points this out, is how a person must come to Him in faith.
Jesus saw these multitudes set before Him (all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them [Matt 4:24b, NKJV]) and was filled with compassion for them. It was not just the healings of a physical nature, Jesus wanted to show them just what it was that they needed. A final solution, a permanent fix, an end-all-be-all path to ultimate happiness, contentment and comfort.
Jesus went up the mountain (actually a "mount" or a hill), and the crowd around Him followed. Then, in the manner of the Jewish rabbi of that day, He sat and began to teach. Sitting and teaching was considered formal teaching not just an informal opinion as one would receive while walking or standing. It would be like being seated as the chairman of the board of a corporation in a sense. In short, Jesus taught with authority, not quoting any great, well known Pharisee or Saducee.
The first paradoxical teaching is "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.". How can one be blessed and be poor? It's important to note that we must look especially upon the Greek terms in the Beatitudes, especially in the first eight, the "blessed are" passages. The term blessed means "happy, fortunate, blissful" but carries a deeper meaning. John MacArthur, expounding upon this word in its context in the Beatitudes states : "Because blessedness is fundamentally an element of the character of God, when men partake of His nature through Jesus Christ they partake of His blessedness. So it becomes clear at the very beginning of the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus is speaking of a reality that is only for believers. Others can see the kingdom standards and get a glimpse of kingdom blessings, but only those who belong to the kingdom have the promise of personally receiving and experiencing the blessings. To be blessed is not a superficial feeling of well-being based on circumstance, but a deep supernatural experience of contentedness based on the fact that one's life is right with God. Blessedness is based on objective reality, realized in the miracle of transformation to a new and divine nature." Right from the start, we must understand that REAL blessing--happiness, fortunality and blissfulness--are only found in being right with Jesus.
It's Not About the Poor, the Sad or the Wimps
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:3-5 (NKJV)
Christians often get a bad rap. We are often considered wanting, grieving, or are wimpy and some even think we are looking for a pity party. And, the world when they see the verses above, think that they are right. However, they could not be farther from the truth.
The term for poor in the original language means "to cower or crouch", as someone who is not just poor but beggarly poor. Someone that is so poor that they are ashamed to be that way, and cower and will not even look up at the person they are seeing money or food from with an outstretched hand. This same word is used to describe the woman who gave her two mites--all that she had in offering in the synagogue. But the key difference is this type of poverty is that it is one of spirit.
I have often said that there has never been a proud person saved at the cross of Christ, and this beatitude proves that statement. God opens the eyes of the corrupt heart of the man, woman, boy or girl to the fact that they are separated from God. They then come to Jesus with an open, empty hand in great humility not even wanting to look up but depending upon the mercy of Jesus just at the tax collector did in the synagogue--he would not ever look up, beat his chest and said "be merciful to me, a sinner!" (Luke 18:13) THEN--and only then--can one come to Jesus and receive "the kingdom of heaven" or be saved.
While is true that Christians weep-or at least we should weep--at the thought of friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers and even enemies that are unsaved and at the thought of Christians that suffer or have backslidden--we are or should be a happy bunch. The unsaved would look upon "blessed are those who mourn", thinking we are blessed if we are always dressed in black and have red faces and red noses from the constant dabbing of the eyes and blowing the nose in grief! However, the context here is simply this: when one sees their status with God--unsaved, separated from Him--and WHY that is so--because of sin, a crime against God--they mourn. They weep like a mother that has just lost a child at birth, a father that lost his first born son, parents that get a letter from the military that their child was killed overseas, and the reason why is because they see their sin, hate their sin and know the consequences of their sin. They then know that their sin is a crime against God.
However, God is also the God of all comfort; when a person becomes right with God through a relationship with Jesus Christ--repenting like the tax collector--they will be comforted. The word for comforted and Comforter (a name for the Holy Spirit) are from the same Greek root word; it means "to come along side". When someone repents, throws themselves at the feet of Jesus and asks for forgiveness and confesses that Jesus is Lord, they are not only comforted at that time but are also comforted by God the Holy Spirit--Comforter--for the rest of their lives.
Perhaps one of the most misunderstood, misapplied and misquoted verses in the canon of Scripture is "blessed are the meek". Quite honestly, I always understood and I think most people come to understand that meekness means weakness. In other words, if you are meek, you are wimp. A milquetoast. A coward. However, if you think that , you had better change your mind real fast.
The Greek word for meek also is translated as gentle in other places the New Testament; in fact, the NASB and the Holman Christian Standard Bible both translate the word in Matthew 5:5 as gentle. It is best understood as "power under control". "Meekness does not connote weakness. The word was used in much extrabiblical literature to refer to the breaking of an animal. Meekness means power put under control. A person without meekness is "like a city that is broken into and without walls" (Prov. 25:28). "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city" (Prov. 16:32). An unbroken colt is useless; medicine that is too strong will harm rather than cure; a wind out of control destroys. Emotion out of control also destroys, and has no place in God's kingdom. Meekness uses its resources appropriately. Meekness is the opposite of violence and vengeance." (John MacArthur).
Those that are meek--under control by God--will inherit the earth. For Jewish saints in Christ, this means the land of Israel and for all others it means the earth. There is an irony that those that were arrogant, full of themselves and used their power to oppress and depress will be the ones on the outside looking in. At best, they will just be around for eternity if they did not live for Christ; at worst they will be in Hell forever and will not even own the fiery lake they have sentenced themselves.
Fill 'Er Up!
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Matthew 5:5-6 (NKJV)
While it is true that there are some that go hungry in our country, this is an extremely rare thing. Most often, it is caused by parents that drink up or drug up their paychecks and the children tragically go hungry. However, if anything, most Christians--this preacher included--could stand to do that old exercise called "push aways", as in PUSH AWAY FROM THE TABLE!
However, this is different in this context. When a person is redeemed by Jesus Christ, there should be a hunger and thirst for the righteous things of God. I know that when I became saved, all of a sudden I had a hunger for God's Word that had then become understandable to me. I longed to read God's Word, to sing of God's promises and greatness, and be with God's people.
Jesus promises--right here that if you have a hunger for God's righteousness and His Word--that He will satisfy that hunger; no, he will fill you to the brim.
Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. Matthew 5:7-8(NKJV)
Great In Mercy, Great in Heart
It seems that there is a great lack of mercy these days. The world has never been totally honorable, but it has gotten much worse hasn't it? It used to be that you could settle a deal with a handshake, that a man's word was good and that more people were honest than were not. We live in a day and time when the motto is "look out for #1" and "don't get mad, get even".
That being said, as Christians we must have mercy as a built in quality. Why? Albert Barnes wrote in Barnes' Notes: Nowhere do we imitate God more than in showing mercy. In nothing does God more delight than in the exercise of mercy To us, guilty sinners; to us, wretched, dying, and exposed to eternal woe, he has shown his mercy by giving his Son to die for us; by expressing his willingness to pardon and save us; and by sending his Spirit to renew and sanctify the heart. Each day of our life, each hour, and each moment, we partake of his undeserved mercy. All the blessings we enjoy are proofs of his mercy. If we also show mercy to the poor, the wretched, the guilty, it shows that we are like God; we have his spirit, and shall not lose our reward. And we have abundant opportunity to do it. Our world is full of guilt and woe, which we may help to relieve; and every day of our lives we have opportunity by helping the poor and wretched, and by forgiving those who injure us, to show that we are like God. Christians experience God's mercy and grace every day and will continue to do so until that day we meet Jesus.
What does it mean to be pure in heart? The subject of holiness, of purity of heart, can be traced from Genesis to Revelation. The theme is infinitely vast and touches on virtually every other biblical truth. It is impossible to exhaust its meaning or significance. (John MacArthur). In short, then, it refers to holiness, to purity of self. I have noticed, in recent years the questions have been turned around backwards; instead of "how can I be like Jesus so as to please God?" and now is "how far can I push the limits before God has a problem with it?". How messed up is that?
John MacArthur speaks of one's purity in heart being literally translated as "They shall be continuously seeing God for themselves." He goes on to further explain "Purity of heart cleanses the eyes of the soul so that God becomes visible. One sign of an impure heart is ignorance, because sin obscures the truth (John 3:19-20). Evil and ignorance come in a package. Other signs of an impure heart are self-centeredness (Rev. 3:17), pleasure in sin (2 Tim. 3:4), unbelief (Heb. 3:12), and hatred of purity (Mic. 3:2). Those who belong to God exchange all of those things for integrity and purity".
In short, Christians should not be taken by surprise when they cannot find God's will and favor when they don't read and study the Bible (the primary teaching source being the church), act more like the unsaved in sin, be lackadaisical in their relationship with God and other Christians. Have you checked where your head and heart really are with God? Start today.
