Sermon 2 November 2012
Matthew 5:1-12
“Blessed”
The Lord Jesus tells us in these verses that God’s blessing rests on the poor in spirit, on those who mourn, on the meek, on those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, on the merciful, on the pure in heart, on peacemakers, and on those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.
And He gives us a very specific list of blessings that God promises to the people that He describes here:
The Kingdom of Heaven will be theirs,
They will be comforted,
They will inherit the earth,
They will be filled (satisfied),
They will obtain mercy,
They will see God,
They will be called Sons of God, and
The Kingdom of Heaven will be theirs.
What do you notice about this list of the people that God promises to bless?
First of all, we can see that these people whom God has promised to bless are what the world would consider a bunch of losers. The “poor in spirit” are those who have an attitude of poverty. You can argue whether that means spiritual poverty or material poverty; the point is that they have an attitude that shows they know they are poor and in need of help beyond their own power.
The meek are those who have a humble attitude of being willing to receive correction, to be taught: teachableness. These are people who don’t think they know it all.
Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are people who haven’t achieved righteousness, but who want with all their heart to obtain it. Not those who feel they’ve already gotten there, but those who long to be there.
The merciful are those who have every right to punish somebody else for what that somebody did to them, but choose not to; they choose to just “let it go” and not demand satisfaction - what nowadays people call closure, which sounds better than satisfaction but means the same thing.
The pure in heart are those who are innocent, who don’t let their mind dwell on evil, nasty, dirty thoughts. When sinful thoughts come into their hearts and minds they just “change the mental channel” to think instead on good, clean, wholesome, godly things, instead. They don’t want to fill their minds with dirty movies, TV shows, books, magazines and websites. They seek ways to fill their minds and hearts with good and clean things, instead.
Peacemakers are not those who sit around smelling flowers and longing for peace, passively wishing for it, but who take steps to bring peace; whether that means by mediation or intercession, or by what you might call “direct action.” Instead of looking for ways to grab what doesn’t belong them, or trying to exact vengeance on those who have wronged them, or standing by passively and letting bad things be done to other people, “peacemakers” will take the necessary steps to stop oppression and vengeance and abuse from happening. Sometimes making peace means showing mercy; but sometimes it means standing up for what’s right and not accepting the abuse of the weak and powerless.
Sometimes those who make peace have to do it violently. The Old West was won by the appropriately named “Colt Peacemaker” - in the hands of people who insisted on imposing peace, justice, and civilization on a wild, lawless country. The American incursion into the Second World war included terrible, violent events like D-Day, the Siege of Berlin, the Battle of Midway, and the Atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but it brought peace to the world for decades.
Those who are “persecuted for righteousness’ sake” are those who lose their reputation, their money, material goods, and business; their freedom, or even their lives -- because they refuse to do something that’s wrong. They insist on doing what’s right, and that often makes other people, including powerful people, rulers, politicians, and governments angry; so these people in positions of power beat them up, or fine them and confiscate what they have, or tell lies about them in the press to trash their reputation, or put them in jail, torture them, or kill them because of their stand on doing the right thing no matter what it costs.
The children of this world will point to the people on this list and say “If you have an attitude of poverty, you’ll always be poor. You have to think wealthy to develop wealth. You have to think like an accomplished, successful person to attract success, and never admit your own powerlessness.”
The world will say, “It isn’t the meek who inherit the earth; it’s the proud, the powerful, the arrogant.”
I remember, years ago on the radio, hearing one amazingly pompous, self-important young amateur philosopher who claimed that “The meek shall inherit the earth” was one of Jesus’ big mistakes. According to this guy, anyone could see that the meek don’t get anything. In his vast experience (at the age of about twenty-four), that was just wrong, and he laughed at it! Funny thing; I haven’t heard anything about that fellow now for about 35 years. He just vanished from the stage after a brief flash of popularity.
The world will tell you that if you are forever longing to be righteous in your own experience but never feel like you’ve made it, you need psychotherapy to free your id from the chains of guilt and slavery imposed upon you by your upbringing, your society, or your religion - especially Christianity.
The world will say that if you show mercy, it will be interpreted by your enemies as weakness and they’ll take advantage of you.
If you are pure in heart, the world will say that you are hopelessly naïve and ignorant, behind the times, old-fashioned, and don’t know how to have fun.
If you try to make peace you will be alternately considered a weakling or a warmonger.
Now here’s the amazing thing: Jesus tells us here that in God’s economy, these “losers” are the people that God is going to bless. These are the people of whom God approves. He wants more of these people in the world, and He wants people like this to prosper - in fact, He says He is going to prosper them.
He promises to give them the Kingdom of Heaven, so that even if they lose everything in this life, they will still be a part of something bigger and greater than all that they lose. He promises that He will comfort them, both now and in Heaven; He says that He will see to it that they inherit the earth, even if in this life they live in poverty because of the choices they make now; that He will satisfy their longing for righteousness, even when they feel now that they never seem to have made it. He says that He will show mercy to them both now and forever; He will call them His own beloved children; and then He says again that He will include them in His Kingdom, so that even if they lose it all now because of the choices they make, they will have that glorious heavenly Kingdom to look forward to.
Did you notice that the list of God’s blessings begins and ends with “Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven?” Isn’t that wonderful? Both the Kingdom of Heaven in the here and now, and the Kingdom of Heaven in eternity are ours.
Remember that Jesus also said, “In the world you will have persecution, but fear not; I have overcome the world.”
So God’s Word to you and me is this: Don’t be afraid of the world’s opinion; be more concerned with my opinion (God’s opinion). These are the people I am going to bless, He says; and even if for a while you suffer persecution, or poverty, or are ostracized or rejected or made fun of; even if it costs you all the comforts or your very life to do things my way, you will be comforted, you will inherit the earth, you will be filled with satisfaction, you will obtain mercy, you will see God and be called children of God, and the Kingdom of Heaven will be yours.
No matter what happens in this life, if you’re following Jesus, trusting in Him, you will find that God keeps His promises, and these blessings will be yours. All the sorrows of this life will be swallowed up in joy and satisfaction when God wipes away every tear from your eyes and says to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.”
That’s what you have to look forward to. Trust Him. Believe His promises. Rest in them, and follow Him. You are blessed, and the Kingdom of Heaven is yours.