Beatitudes
Sermon on the mount Matthew 5:1-12
In these short words recorded in Matthew we have what many say, “ would not the world be a wonderful place if we could live by these?” I have often heard people say this. I agree. It would be a much better place if we could live these Beatitudes. Many admire them. All of wish to be happy . According to Jesus these are happiness. Beatitude means happiness or blessedness from the latin “beatitudo”
We might say the word itself breaks it down for us. BE . Secondly, ATTITUDE. In other words our attitudes come from within and our desires. We desire certain things in life , sometimes not always that good and they do not bring us happiness. Jesus has something to say about this.
“He opened His mouth and taught them ( the disciples) saying:
‘ Blessed are the poor in spirit , For theirs is the kingdom of heaven…’ ”
It all starts here. Without a change of heart we are still going to serve the old patterns and habits and masters. Let me explain.
Because of Adam we all inherit a nature that is contrary to God. The old word is “original sin.” The nature must be changed before we can have eternal life. We call that regeneration. A new birth is another way of saying regeneration. How can we be subject to God if we are still servants of our old nature and attitudes? We must be changed . This is all laid out for us in the Book of Romans.
3:23 “ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”---this is original sin.
5:12 “ ..through one man ( Adam) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “ the statistics on death are impressive. One out of one dies.”
This first part of the Beatitudes is central. “ The man who is poor in spirit is the man who is willing to be governed. ..we obtain the Kingdom when we submit in poverty of spirit to the King.” G Campbell Morgan, Matthew.
This is BE , the BE part of the beatitudes. Without the change we will be doomed to failure to live a Christian life. The old habits and attitudes will not be able to be changed unless our hearts are changed. How ? Back to Romans. “ the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe.” Ro. 3:22 It is the Holy Spirit who regenerates our hearts and gives us new life.
If certain things have not changed the same problems keep coming up. The same people keep bothering us. What can we do? We should ask the Lord to change hearts that we can all enjoy Him forever now and in glory forever too. A position in the church is no guarantee we are Christians. Even the most vile sinner or the most moral sinner must come to Christ before He/she is a Christian. Even the moral works we do in our strength are not a substitute for the righteousness and blood of Christ. This is where many of us go wrong. We are trying to exchange our righteousness for what God has already provided. We did not get the BE yet. Even in our own church courts there can be people who are not yet yielded to the government of God. This is a sad thing, but God must change their hearts. We must pray for this to happen in our families , our church, and in our country. This is the only way that the Beatitudes will be lived in our midst. They cannot be counterfeited. There are some very good imitations however.
When others see that we are changed then it will catch on fire. If there is no flame the fire will not start. We are kindling for a bonfire of God’s love that will be ignited in our circles. When we stand up for what is righteousness we hunger and thirst for that always as Christians , we will be disliked. “ Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against your falsely for My sake..” 5:11 But that is alright for Jesus says we are blessed. Our reward is in heaven for so they “persecuted the prophets who were before you.” 5:12
So whose attitude do we then have? We have the attitude of Christ when we observe the Beatitudes. When others remark that it would be so wonderful to live by the beatitudes they do not really know what they say do they? What they are really asking for is Christ Himself. And Jesus will not accept any other government than His government in our lives. To be poor in spirit is to know we need His government for we are weak and helpless. We are like beggars accepting the gift of a King with open hands and not clenched fists in anger. We are won over to Jesus because we know His life is true and real and will give us everything we need in this life and in the life to come.
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.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
In these short words recorded in Matthew we have what many say, “ would not the world be a wonderful place if we could live by these?” I have often heard people say this. I agree. It would be a much better place if we could live these Beatitudes. Many admire them. All of wish to be happy . According to Jesus these are happiness. Beatitude means happiness or blessedness from the latin “beatitudo”
We might say the word itself breaks it down for us. BE . Secondly, ATTITUDE. In other words our attitudes come from within and our desires. We desire certain things in life , sometimes not always that good and they do not bring us happiness. Jesus has something to say about this.
“He opened His mouth and taught them ( the disciples) saying:
‘ Blessed are the poor in spirit , For theirs is the kingdom of heaven…’ ”
It all starts here. Without a change of heart we are still going to serve the old patterns and habits and masters. Let me explain.
Because of Adam we all inherit a nature that is contrary to God. The old word is “original sin.” The nature must be changed before we can have eternal life. We call that regeneration. A new birth is another way of saying regeneration. How can we be subject to God if we are still servants of our old nature and attitudes? We must be changed . This is all laid out for us in the Book of Romans.
3:23 “ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”---this is original sin.
5:12 “ ..through one man ( Adam) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “ the statistics on death are impressive. One out of one dies.”
This first part of the Beatitudes is central. “ The man who is poor in spirit is the man who is willing to be governed. ..we obtain the Kingdom when we submit in poverty of spirit to the King.” G Campbell Morgan, Matthew.
This is BE , the BE part of the beatitudes. Without the change we will be doomed to failure to live a Christian life. The old habits and attitudes will not be able to be changed unless our hearts are changed. How ? Back to Romans. “ the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe.” Ro. 3:22 It is the Holy Spirit who regenerates our hearts and gives us new life.
If certain things have not changed the same problems keep coming up. The same people keep bothering us. What can we do? We should ask the Lord to change hearts that we can all enjoy Him forever now and in glory forever too. A position in the church is no guarantee we are Christians. Even the most vile sinner or the most moral sinner must come to Christ before He/she is a Christian. Even the moral works we do in our strength are not a substitute for the righteousness and blood of Christ. This is where many of us go wrong. We are trying to exchange our righteousness for what God has already provided. We did not get the BE yet. Even in our own church courts there can be people who are not yet yielded to the government of God. This is a sad thing, but God must change their hearts. We must pray for this to happen in our families , our church, and in our country. This is the only way that the Beatitudes will be lived in our midst. They cannot be counterfeited. There are some very good imitations however.
When others see that we are changed then it will catch on fire. If there is no flame the fire will not start. We are kindling for a bonfire of God’s love that will be ignited in our circles. When we stand up for what is righteousness we hunger and thirst for that always as Christians , we will be disliked. “ Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against your falsely for My sake..” 5:11 But that is alright for Jesus says we are blessed. Our reward is in heaven for so they “persecuted the prophets who were before you.” 5:12
So whose attitude do we then have? We have the attitude of Christ when we observe the Beatitudes. When others remark that it would be so wonderful to live by the beatitudes they do not really know what they say do they? What they are really asking for is Christ Himself. And Jesus will not accept any other government than His government in our lives. To be poor in spirit is to know we need His government for we are weak and helpless. We are like beggars accepting the gift of a King with open hands and not clenched fists in anger. We are won over to Jesus because we know His life is true and real and will give us everything we need in this life and in the life to come.
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.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Comments
Post a Comment