Sermon 119
Sermon by Ian Scott-Thompson at Wonersh on Sunday 3rd February 2008
No 4 Matthew
Series – The Beatitudes
I wonder if any of you have been reading through the Bible with me? Going through Matthew has been so full of insight. Today is the last of our little Sermon Series in the early chapters of Matthew:
On January 6, Liz Tilley gave us Matthew 2,
the Wise Men
The following week I did Matthew 3, John the Baptist
Then on January 20, James Cooke preached on Matthew 4, The First Disciples. So, today it’s Matthew 5, The Beatitudes,
“The ‘Blessed’s ”.
1 Now
when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a
mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, the committed climbed up with
him
2 and he began to teach them:
Jesus often climbed mountains, perhaps to get away from the crowds. I wonder if you’ve ever done that, perhaps on holiday; you get high up, closer to God somehow, and you look out over the villages and lakes below, and it puts life into perspective. This time, his disciples came panting after him and flopped down on the ground gasping, and were content to listen to him. He was always speaking about God’s kingdom, and what it is like. This time, he began to tell them who is in it, what kind of people: the happy, the blessed. And, please notice, the kingdom is not future, after death, or at the end of time, or something: Jesus announced that it’s here, now, and you are part of it!
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, those
who know they are spiritually poor,
(JBP) the ones who know their need
of God.
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven, it belongs to them.
Jesus was always on the side of the weak, the poor, the underdog. But that was especially true when it comes to your heart, your spirit. If you’re full of yourself, you’ll be telling God how wonderful you are: you won’t listen or ask for his help. Jesus wants people who know they need help.
Message – You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope: with less of you there is more of God and his rule.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted, God will comfort them.
Sometimes laughter can be a smokescreen, a cover-up for embarrassment, a way of avoiding the truth. But people who are sorrowful can be more reflective, and perhaps more open to God.
Message - You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you: only then can you be embraced by the One who is most dear to you.
5 Blessed are the meek, the humble, (JBP) those who claim nothing
for they will inherit the earth, will receive what God has promised.
Meek means humble, modest, or self-effacing.
“Earth
inherited by Meek” piece.
But why is God
keen on feeble people? Surely
confidence and assertiveness are good, aren’t they? Yes, they are: Jesus himself was both these
things. But he didn’t use them for his
own benefit; he didn’t grasp at equality with God, he didn’t seize status and position,
he didn’t lord it over others. Whether
we’re talking Money, Sex or Power: don’t live life like one big
Supermarket Sweep, grabbing and claiming all you can. Moses was a great leader, but Numbers 12.3
tells us that he was more humble or meek than anyone on the face of the earth:
a true servant leader. Doesn’t
Message – You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are, no more, no less: that’s when you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires
for they will be filled, God will satisfy them fully.
Many hunger and thirst for the things of this world: for success, for power, for sex, for big money, for faster cars, bigger houses, even for food and drink. These things will satisfy a little, for a while; but then the craving comes again, and again, like an addiction; and when you approach eternity, what then? Lord, give me a hunger and a thirst for You: the Bread of Life, the Living Water. Plant in me a craving, a desperation for what really matters; enough to drive out the cravings of this world.
Message – You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God: he’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
7 Blessed are the merciful, those who
are merciful to others
for they will be shown mercy, God will be merciful to them.
In Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Portia tells the merchant Shylock:
The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
Tis
mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better
than his crown.
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute of God himself;
And earthly power doth then show like God's
When mercy seasons justice.
We’re very keen on punishing criminals and throwing away the key; on strength and justice, and these are not wrong; but if that’s all we do, it can be one-dimensional, harsh and vengeful, and diminish us. And what will happen when we ourselves are the wrongdoer, the criminal in the dock? The most civilised societies have always tempered justice with mercy: this is the way of the truly great, because it is the way of God himself.
Message – You’re blessed when you care: at the moment of being care-full, you find yourselves cared for.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, (JBP) the utterly sincere
for they will see God.
Wouldn’t you like to see God, to know Him like you know one another, to have Him guide you clearly, speak to you plainly? There are some people who already do! The pure in heart: Lord, cleanse me from within and make me a pure vessel for your Spirit. Wipe off the tarnish; scrub out the dirt, the deception and the double-dealing; purify my heart.
Message – You’re blessed when you get your inside world, your mind and heart, put right: then you can see God in the outside world.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, those who
work for peace
for they will be called sons of God, God will call them his children.
More people died of war and famine in the twentieth century than in all the other centuries put together; and the twenty-first is already looking even more careless of life. We have not learned to live in peace together: we fight and oppose one another and argue, even in the church. Human nature is not evolving morally, not in a positive way. Many blame God for this, but Jesus taught his followers to love their enemies, to do good to those who hurt them, and to be people of peace, Shalom. He demonstrated this in his life, and supremely in his death on the cross, which brought peace between man and God. Making peace is in God’s nature, it’s a feature of the kingdom of heaven, and those who make peace are blessed.
Message – You’re blessed when you can show people how to co-operate instead of compete or fight: that’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, because they do what God requires, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
Message – You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution: the persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.
If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Perhaps our faith has been diluted, is lukewarm, half-hearted, no threat to anybody. But the real, full-strength righteousness has a powerful effect, dividing people into for and against.
Two centuries before Jesus was born, Plato wrote this:
"Should ever a man perfectly-just appear among men, he will be bound,
scourged, racked, tortured, and at last, after suffering every kind of evil, he
will be impaled." [ can’t track down the quote, though ]
Jesus was the perfect demonstration of Plato’s maxim, and he warned
that they would treat his disciples likewise.
Nevertheless, here he tells us we are blessed! Why?
Because we have made the right choice, we are on the winning side, we have found the pearl beyond price, the
Message – You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution: the persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. When they tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers.
Message – Count yourselves blessed every time people put you down to discredit me.
Again, this is what they did to Jesus: so the false accusations identify us as His followers.
I love this list of the Blessed people. Like the Gallery of Faith in Hebrews 11. These are the people of the kingdom of heaven, the blessed. Do you want to be part of this? Do you want to be one of these? When we get to the Intercessions in a moment, after the Creed, as we pray, would you kneel as a sign of these desires, these qualities of the heart? I’ve asked John Thompson to lead a prayer of commitment to Jesus, and you can pray that prayer to welcome Christ in to your life, and to be a follower of his.
Prayer of commitment from Alpha:
Lord Jesus Christ,
I am sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life.
(Take a few moments to ask his forgiveness for anything particular that is on your conscience.)
Please forgive me. I now turn from everything which I know is wrong.
Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.
Thank you that you offer me forgiveness, and the gift of your Holy Spirit. I now receive that gift. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.
Thank you Lord Jesus. Amen.