Title: Eight (or Maybe Nine) Upside Down Blessings
Text: Matthew 5:1-12
Thesis: Jesus calls us to experience happiness in living upside down lives.
Introduction
One of the most uncomfortable moments of my life occurred a few years ago when a colleague invited me to meet her for coffee at Starbucks. Over the years I had been supportive of her as a woman in ministry. She was younger and had always been a more demonstrably godly person than I am but I was accustomed to her enthusiastic interests. We had a pleasant hour and then as we were getting ready to go our separate ways she said, “I would like to give you a blessing.” I thought to myself, “Okay…” And then I gathered myself and said, “Okay.” She blessed me with an obviously well-thought out blessing. Then she said, “Now, you bless me.”
To feel blessed can be as simple a thing as feeling lucky or fortunate. To feel blessed can also mean you have received an inheritance or something from God or someone of great value. To feel blessed may mean to experience favor bestowed by God or someone that brings you happiness. To bless someone is to seek for them or bestow upon them or pray God’s favor for them. At any rate, my sense is that the blessing Jesus describes in Matthew 5 is intended to imply great personal satisfaction and happiness.
1. The poor in spirit are blessed
God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Matthew 5:3
I’ve never been a fan of poverty. Over the Christmas holiday my Mother commented that I was always an industrious kid… always carrying a paper route, mowing lawns, shoveling snow, doing odd jobs, stacking hay bales. She said, “You always had to have some money in your pocket.”
But when Jesus spoke of the “poor” being blessed he was not speaking of “poor” as in being financially destitute. He was not talking about being penniless or needy. He was speaking of spiritual poverty. He was speaking of those who know they are spiritually bankrupt, totally destitute and in need of saving. He is speaking of those who desperately turn to God and say, “I’m, broke!”
It’s upside down because sinful brokenness and spiritual bliss or happiness are not thought to be congruent.
2. Those who mourn are blessed (Those who are saddened by their sin are blessed.)
God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4
What a relief it is to come to your senses. I’m spiritually broke and as such spiritually broken. Jesus says that’s a place of spiritual bliss or happiness. It’s a good place to finally be. But along with that realization is another realization and that realization is a deep sadness and sorrow for that brokenness...
Jesus said God blesses those who mourn… what are they mourning over? What grieves them? What grieves us? Our brokenness and our grief may be expressed in David’s Prayer found in Psalm 51.
“Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. Create in me a clean heart, O God; renew a right spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of my salvation and make me willing to obey you. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken and contrite heart, O God.”
Jesus says the person who is saddened by and repentant of his sinfulness experiences a renewed sense of spiritual relief and joy.
It’s upside down because owning one’s sin, much less mourning one’s sin, is not normal practice… denial and cover-up are much more the norm.
3. The gentle are blessed (Those who humbly or meekly submit to the will of God are blessed.)
God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5
The older translations use the word “meek.” Blessed are the meek. Meek and mild men are not generally thought to be movers and shakers in the real world.
However in the biblical language and in the way Jesus spoke the word meek or humble described a person who was humble in spirit as a powerful horse is under the control of a bridle. The person who is humble is not weak. The humble person is a person who has submitted himself or herself to the will of God.
This is a person who knows what it is to be spiritually bankrupt and feel genuine remorse and repentance of his or her sins and has decided to let God be in control of his or her life.
This person experiences the blessing of God and knows the happiness of that new relationship.
It’s upside down because submission and power are not generally perceived to be congruent.
4. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. Matthew 5:6
Having bottomed out spiritually and realized one’s utter spiritual bankruptcy and grieved over one’s sinfulness and humbled oneself and turned one’s life over to God, a person’s desires begin to change. The old stuff isn’t as important. Sin doesn’t hold its old appeal. Power doesn’t seem as important as it once did. Being rich isn’t as important as it once was. Your goals begin to change and you begin to think about the ways and the will of God in your life.
Jesus says you begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness or justice or things that are right.
Those kinds of things are what satisfies. You really are becoming a new creation in Christ.
It’s upside down because there is a new norm… you begin to desire what is right rather than hungering and thirsting to be more prosperous, more popular and more powerful.
Note: There is a shift in Jesus’ teaching here. In the first four Beatitudes Jesus focused on the Blessings that accompany the Inner Working of God in our lives. In the next four Beatitudes Jesus focused on the Blessings that accompany the Outworking the God’s Inner Work in our lives.
5. The merciful are blessed (Those who are merciful will be blessed with mercy.)
God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:7
Interestingly, at this point the blessed person begins to focus on others. Having received mercy, he or she begins to extend mercy to others.
I regularly keep a few bucks in my left front pocket. The money I put there is the money I have decided I can afford to share with someone who is in need. I know I am incredibly blessed and I would be remiss if I did not sharer something of what God has blessed me with others in need.
Bonnie and I try to tip generously. If we can afford to eat out and enjoy a nice meal we can afford to bless those who serve us. Call it whatever you wish. Mercy. Generosity. Thoughtfulness. Kindness… mercy really should trickle down and out and find its way to others.
It’s upside down to be merciful because it’s a dog-eat-dog world where you’d best look out for your own interests.
6. The pure in heart are blessed (Those who are authentic and real are blessed.)
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. Matthew 5:7
We typically think of a pure hearted person as a person who has only pure thoughts which is not only a pretty tall order for most of us but also not what Jesus meant when he spoke of pure heartedness in the Beatitudes.
Being pure hearted has more to do with being trust-worthy. You’ve heard sayings like:
“Never trust a man who doesn’t trust anybody because he is likely a man nobody should trust.” Harold McMillan
And especially pertinent these days is a quote by Shirley McLaine: “Never trust a man when he’s in love, drunk, or running for office.”
When Jesus spoke of pure-heartedness he meant that as we mature in our faith we become increasingly real or authentic or honest. We are who we are – our authentic selves before God and others. We are finally able to happily be ourselves… what you see is what you get.
It’s upside down because we are living unpretentiously in an overly pretentious world. There is no desire impress anyone or be anything other than who we are as followers of Christ and Children of God.
7. The peacemakers are blessed (Those who make peace are blessed.)
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. Matthew 5:8
God made the world for peace. Isaiah 2:4 looks to a day when the Lord will mediate between nations and settle international disputes and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks and nations will no longer fight against nation.
In 2016, when Barack Obama was President, actor, comedian, and author Patton Oswalt was asked by The New York Times, "If you could require the president of the United States to read one book, what would it be?" Oswalt replied:
Garret Keizer's, The Enigma of Anger. A meditation and history on rage, both righteous and unrighteous, which seems to be infecting so much of world events these days, both the high (politics, statesmanship) and the low (pop culture, social media). We haven't seen the first truly great leader of the 21st century, but he or she is going to have to address, remedy, and control rage. It's the hidden poison of our tight-wire planet. (Sunday Book Review, Patton Oswalt: By the Book, The New York Times, 12-31-14)
Our world, our country, our communities, our schools, our homes, our churches all need the soothing influence of good and godly peacemakers who walk into a room to listen and ask questions and speak gently and kindly and who offer wise counsel and guidance and solutions as they are led by the Spirit of God.
Peacemaking is an upside down characteristic in a world that seems to place so much value on differences, conflict and confrontation.
8. and 9. Those who are persecuted for righteousness are blessed
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Matthew 5:10-11
The Apostle Peter reinforces this sentiment in his second epistle, “So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. It is no shame to suffer for being a Christian.” I Peter 4:14-16
In other words, if you are going to be persecuted or insulted or mocked or suffer for any reason it had better be because you are being a really good person and so much so that people can’t stand your goodness… imagine that!
It’s upside down because you can be happy that you are being singled out and talked about because you are the best and most loving person on the planet!
Conclusion
Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way. Matthew 5:12
