"Above all, the Beatitudes tell us the condition of our lives and how they should evince salt and light to the world."
[This sermon is one of a series entitled "Sermon on the Mount, Concentrating on the Beatitudes," which is being preached on Sunday mornings by Pastor Tim Senter.]
Last week we opened a discussion concerning the Sermon on the Mount. We looked at the special privilege it is for a preacher to have an opportunity to exposit a message first given by the Savior Himself. We looked at the area, situation, and circumstances surrounding this message when it was first given. We also identified ten subjects in the sermon that we determined needed attention. The first area we identified was happiness, a Godly state of contentedness. Christianity was next where we will be admonished and encouraged to ask ourselves what we are doing in our lives for Christ. We saw obedience as a main theme in the latter part of chapter five. We find many references to the Law and Commandments we are given. Next, we found worship to be an important topic of the beginning of chapter six. This was followed by a discussion concerning our heart, and especially what it is that we do to it– what we subject ourselves to, or desensitize ourselves from. We looked at provision next, and very briefly considered aspects of this. Where do we lay our dependence in order to be happy and content? We will look at discernment when we open chapter seven, and consider some guidelines to exercise these things. We considered faith and how to defeat the deceivers of the world. Finally, we looked at the foundational issues that will permit us to identify with all of these elements, and defeat deceivers through faith.
We should read through the Beatitudes so look with me at Matthew 5:3 please.
William Barclay wrote in his autobiography,
“For me to enter a pulpit has always been a literally terrifying experience. It is a comfort to find that other people in similar circumstances have felt the same way. It is, I think, in fact true, that, if a man can enter a pulpit without turning a hair, then it is time that he stopped entering it.”[1]
When I survey the wondrous words of this sermon, I cannot help but tense at the thought of the responsibility that a man has to stand in this position before you and present the very Word of God. Everyone has to answer to the Lord God for their lives; however, the preacher standing here claiming to know something concerning the actual teachings of God in His revelation had better be doubly careful concerning accuracy and validity. When we, therefore, come together and I am charged with bringing truths to your ears on behalf of God, to exhort you, to rebuke you, to instruct you, and to encourage you, I am ever aware that the Savior Himself is looking directly at me. I am directly responsible to Him for you.
For this reason, I also receive unto myself the most proper exposition of scripture into my heart first. In this case, today, I am able to first read of and understand the blessings that are bestowed upon people exemplifying specific characteristics. These characteristics are picturesque of Christ. Every characteristic of blessedness within these Beatitudes describes an aspect of His person, His character, His reaction, and His attitude. What is this blessedness?
People of our nation, and all over the world, are continually seeking happiness. Their endeavor to make themselves happy ends up either as a wide collection of expensive toys and possessions or outrageous wealth that no one can really completely enjoy. It can look like a bank account with six zeros in it that is all liquid cash. Happiness to some is a promiscuous life that is free from concern or responsibility. To others happiness is sitting at a card table or poker table frittering away a couple weeks’ wages in hopes of hitting it big. Yet, others see happiness in just caring for their family and driving their children toward excellence. Some gather happiness from serving the society in which they live, doing fundraisers, soliciting volunteerism, organizing and participating in events for the locality. In any case, there is never enough, there is never a contentedness. Happiness seen in one person’s life is normally coveted by another, no matter how “happy” they are. Political conservatives would be happy if only conservatives were in charge. Likewise, the liberal community today is elated with their recent victories. One considers the other the potential destruction of the nation, as we know it. No where is the lack of contentedness better exemplified than in politics, because the funny thing is that which ever one is elected, no one is really “happy.”
Happiness, or what we would find here in scripture in the beatitudes which is really contentedness, is never really achieved on earth regardless of the circumstance. The only true blessedness, contentedness, or happiness lies in knowledge and understanding of eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord, who Himself was the personification of blessedness, contentedness, or happiness. This is the truth of the beatitudes. This is the blessed and contented happiness of the Lord Jesus that is possible for us to achieve in our lives as we become more like Him.
We should then consider the fact that “Contentedness is the cornerstone of the life in Christ, because Christ exemplifies contentedness.” Gandhi used the Sermon on the Mount to promote pacifism, Karl Marx used it to promote war, and in this way, “many consider the beatitudes fanciful philosophical sayings, but they are Christ.“
We should look briefly at the overall condition of our Savior in relation to these descriptions of blessedness, contentedness, or happiness.
I. Contentedness
The first thing we should note is that our Savior, although contented, was a “man of sorrows” and acquainted with grief (Is 53:3). We must reconcile this then: if Jesus was a man acquainted with sorrow and grief, how then can He fulfill all the attributes we read here concerning contentedness and happiness? Which was it then– was our Savior a sad and sorrowing man who would bear the sins of the world, and in doing so, fall prey to great grief and emotional pain. Alternatively, is there something else here for us to find? How do we reconcile Isaiah 53 with Matthew 5?
Our first indication is the position of the Savior as it is presented in the passage in Isaiah itself. When we study this passage, we first discover how the description “man of sorrows” is attributed to Christ. He is the Savior of the world who would be afflicted for us, receive scourging for us, and heal us through the stripes He would receive. He would be pierced through for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. Jesus would be chastened for our well-being, and for our standing with the Father. This chastisement fell upon Him and He was responsible for restoring man to a position of acceptability to God. In this fashion, to take upon Himself these pains and oppression for our healing, Jesus felt this sorrow. He would take upon Himself the sins of the entire world, and this would provide for the freedom of man to be able to enter the Kingdom of God. Therefore, when we read a passage such as Isaiah and we find our Savior grieving and bearing the sins of generations, we must also correlate this to His Godly position of loving perfection. A man, yes– feeling the pressure of the entire world’s sins upon Him at the cross. The God of the world, yes–able to take these sins upon Himself and still exercise contentedness in the choice to give Himself for us out of the most pure love which no man can envisage. His contentedness was born in the final act of His life and the complete truth of His position and responsibility, not in the immediate moment or temporal existence of His earthly life. We must never forget that He poured out His heart at Gethsemane and gave it to the Father in obedience. However, we must equally never forget that He did so and went to the trials with Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate willingly and without hesitation, out of love. In this is His contentedness – the fulfillment of His covenant through love. Christ was completely contented and displayed every aspect of these beatitudes in His every day life.
Oh, to be like the Savior. He is contented in all things on earth, knowing the eternal rewards in heaven, and living life in this fulfillment. Oh to be like the Savior, contented in all challenges on earth, willingly giving ourselves for Him through our love for Him–a love that He first gave us the capacity to express. This is the pure, unadulterated blessedness, contentedness, and happiness of the Christian life. This is Christlikeness; this is the focus of the Beatitudes – Christlike contentedness.
We find, therefore, that the Beatitudes are not gifts. We do not see some with a poor spirit, some with meekness, some with peaceable capacity, and some who are persecuted. This is the condition of all Christians. All Christians are humble in spirit as Christ was humble in spirit. All Christians are mournful for the lost as Christ too mourned for those who reject Him. All Christians are gentle as Christ was gentle. Every Christian hungers after righteousness and shuns evil. Each Christian is merciful, as they know the mercy of God in their lives. There is not one Christian who does not exhibit the purity of heart that is described by God. All of them are peacemakers and seek peace on all fronts. They are all equally persecuted–some bodily, some verbally–but all for the sake of the Savior. All are as Christ, in all things like Christ, they are Christlike therefore in their lives.
Looking at these descriptions then, we find Jesus to be first humble in spirit. We can only see the greatest humility ever depicted by a being in the entire history of man when we find the humble spirit of God submitted to the arrogance of man. If we find anything other than this tremendous humility, we miss the whole purpose of salvation in our Savior. This poor spirit is displayed in Isaiah 53 as well where we read in verse seven that in His oppression and affliction He was quiet as a lamb to the slaughter. He maintained His composure. He kept His tongue with which He could have spoken a word and smitten every man present. God, the Savior, Jesus Christ the Righteous could have said one word and destroyed all. Consider His silence before the pious Caiaphas, a man in a position to be seeking the Savior for his people, and preparing them for His appearance. Caiaphas was supposed to have been a servant of God, the spiritual leader of the Israelites who himself should have been looking to submit himself to the Messiah upon His arrival. Instead, he falsely accuses an innocent man and, with the help of others who feared man instead of God, he delivered Jesus over for crucifixion. Caiaphas’ contentedness was in power and holding to that power or gathering more unto himself. Caiaphas condemned Jesus. Jesus, more humble in spirit than one can fathom, mourned at the Israelites’ rejection of His ministry. Consider, ultimately, how Christ Himself had to humble His spirit to submit Himself to the cross for all to be saved.
We find His mourning, His sorrow, and crying, again to be in Gethsemane; but this is just the fruition of His pain. We find the mourning of Christ, again, foretold by the prophet Isaiah in chapter 61 and verse 2, where the Christ is the One who is to comfort all those who mourn. Christ Himself would mourn and be sorrowful, yet He is content. We struggle with understanding how God can be both mourning and content. He mourned that His creation could be so evil, yet was contented or happy that many would seek salvation through His sacrifice. Consider His contented, yet mourning spirit when He took upon Himself all the sins of the world in order to save mankind from its own wickedness.
We find Christ Jesus gentle; never tolerating that a child could not come to Him. His gentle nature appears in His care for the sick and needy, curing the ill and decrepit, and seeking the leper for healing. Being God, He knew that His time, His influence while He inhabited human flesh, and His efforts therein were limited. Yet, He chooses to submit to these limitations and is contented in all He can perform for the short time He is among man, and within the scope of His submission. Consider His gentle spirit when, upon arriving to arrest Him, Peter strikes a soldier’s ear off with a sword, and Jesus, who will be delivered for scourging and crucifixion by these very men, replaces the ear of the soldier, healing Him (Lk 22:50-51).
We find the Savior hungering and thirsting for righteousness when He rebukes the Pharisees and Scribes for their false piety. We find the righteousness burning in the Savior when He overturns the tables of the money exchangers, and He clears the temple of the merchants who had made the it a “house of merchandise” instead of a house of worship. Ultimately we find His perfect righteousness–the hunger and thirsting for it– displayed in the cross of salvation for all mankind who believe. He gives Himself wholly for righteousness at this cross for all mankind, knowing that only those who accept Him will benefit.
We find Him merciful in all He does, all He says, every operation of His ministry. Mercy is displayed with each healing. Mercy is displayed in His forgiveness of the prostitute. Mercy is given to the spiritual leaders who claim to represent Him and the Father, yet operate as the worldly leaders they were – no different from Herod, Pilate, or Caesar themselves. It took great mercy on the part of Christ to not strike them down, but instead die for their salvation, proclaiming, “forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” Mercy is therefore also ultimately found on the cross.
There was no guilt in Him. Christ Jesus was perfectly innocent and in all ways pure. His intentions always focused upon the will of the Father. He performed only His fathers’ will and work. When we saw Him, we saw the Father. We find this purity in His innocence, in His truth, in His life, and in His perfection. We find His truth told throughout scripture as the only way man can receive atonement of sin. We find His purity in heart, therefore, the reason He can go to the cross for us.
Peacemaking and organizing peaceful and respectful gatherings is all Jesus ever did. Every group you read of that Jesus ministered to is found to be a peaceful group that listened to His teaching, including the very group which He addresses in this Sermon on the Mount. When in the synagogues, He taught of the Father and the Word of God, not of rebellion and subversion of the Roman rule. Jesus gave tribute to Caesar as He was required, called for all the Jews be subject to their masters, and exemplified these humble aspects. Jesus never led an uprising; His focus was peaceful in all ways and in all things. He was accused of the very things (organizing uprisings and reprisals), which He did not do. He was accused of calling himself King of the Jews and claiming the throne of Israel, therefore organizing political unrest by claiming to put a Jewish King on the throne on earth – an act that would replace Rome at the time. He never once espoused this kingdom would be established.
The blessedness, contentedness, and happiness that is described, therefore, in the Beatitudes is Jesus Christ. As Christians, therefore, we are to strive to achieve these attributes through Christ our Savior, without Whom we are unable to achieve true blessedness, contentedness, or happiness.
Having looked at the truth in blessedness, we now look to the promise that brackets these Beatitudes – the kingdom of Heaven.
II. Kingdom of Heaven
When we open to Matthew 5:3 and look at the second part of this verse, we find here the purpose in the Savior–deliverance of man into the Kingdom of Heaven. We should not confuse at any point what one might consider the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, for they are one in the same. The discussion is a presence with God in His kingdom, not two separate locations where God is absent from one, and present in another. Therefore, we find the first promise and the last promise to be of equal value and consistent with the presence of God in our lives. What of the kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God?
Our first concern is to look again at the originator, the purpose, and the example of the beatitudes themselves: Christ Jesus. We find the phrase “Kingdom of God” used 67 times in the New Testament. We are commanded to seek it in Matthew 5:33. In Matthew 12:28, we find that if the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus casts out demons, then surely being in His presence is being in the presence of the Kingdom of God. In Mark 1:15 , where Jesus states that the kingdom of God is at hand, He, Jesus Christ is present. All those in His presence should repent and believe. In this position of repentance and belief, people are therefore worthy (in their humble spirits) of the Kingdom. We find this statement paralleled with the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew 3:2, and 4:17. The disciples are advised that they are given the secret to the kingdom of God in Mark 4:11 – Christ Jesus is right there with them. Everyone outside of Jesus’ selected circle of Apostles hears only the parables; but to the Apostles, the Kingdom of God is revealed in the truths within the parables – truths of which they are exclusively cognizant. Whereas those in the general crowd are confused, the Apostles apprehend the great truths of His parables. The kingdom of God (Christ Jesus) explains these parables personally to the apostles. In Mark 9:1 ,some present were told that they would not die until after Christ was resurrected – the kingdom of God comes with power. This is an indication of Christ’s resurrection on the morning of the third day. The Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven, therefore, is personified in Christ Jesus. All the blessed, contented, and happy attributes therefore described as in the Kingdom of Heaven are exemplified in Christ, Who is the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Jews of the day heard these discussions concerning the Kingdom of Heaven and immediately correlated this to the Messiah and His return to set up the Davidic throne. One discussion we have had recently concerns the return of the Messiah and the origination of the Davidic throne, in our studies of eschatology on Sunday evenings. We found that this throne is earthbound during the millennium in the Promised Land. The actions of those who followed Jesus as the Messiah, their beliefs that Jesus was there to subvert and overthrow the Roman rule, and specifically Peter’s denial of His having to die on the cross when he made this known (Matt 16:21-23). They all considered that the Kingdom of God was to be a literal earthly kingdom that Jesus would instill while He was here. In the beatitudes, there is neither location nor time mentioned for those who are “poor in spirit,” “mourn,” “meek,” “hunger for righteousness,” “merciful,” “pure in heart,” “peacemakers,” or “persecuted.” Yet, these are bracketed by the phrase “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Those individuals, therefore, exhibiting Christlikeness in their walk with Christ, as Christ walked with the Father and exemplified the Father, will receive access to the kingdom of heaven.
Now I call your attention to verse 12 where we read, “Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great…” What tremendous hope the Savior provides those in attendance at the time of this sermon. This admonition (the word “rejoice” is an imperative) is for us today as well. We are commanded to be contented and to exhibit it in our lives. Considering specifically the audience of the time and those to whom Jesus was speaking, we have to identify with the hope they sought for deliverance from the cruel and evil world they lived in. Hope comes in many forms and in many ways. The ultimate hope, though, is access to the very throne of God and the glory of heaven itself. Hope that, after all you have sought, after all you have given, after all you have hurt, after all the pain and suffering, hope is in the faith we have in God’s goodness through His promises. Here, those who find themselves with the greatest attributes of God, the attributes taught and exemplified by the Messiah Himself, are the cherished of God who will enter His Kingdom. Jesus gives these people hope as He ministers to them. He gives them hope in their purity in the face of evil. Jesus gives them hope in their mercy when their flesh says to retaliate. Jesus gives them hope in their guilt as they yearn for justice. Jesus gives them hope in their abuse through accusations of cowardice in their meekness. Jesus gives them hope in mourning, for all those who hurt. Jesus gives them hope in their heartfelt worthlessness without the great God and Savior of their souls. Their hope is in their faith for the Savior Jesus the Christ. These people needed encouragement. They needed understanding. They needed the Hope of God that their faith in Him is not in vain. God, our Savior Jesus Christ, gives us that hope in the Beatitudes.
Above all, the Beatitudes tell us the condition of our lives and how they should evince salt and light (the next subject) to the world. We find in the beatitudes specific behaviors that Christians should continually display in their lives. What we see in these conditions and promises are exact references to the heart condition of the pure Christian. We find great impossibility in these statements such that we know no one can attain the perfection that is espoused here. Just as the Sermon on the Mount shows us, there is such great perfection in our Savior that mere man cannot fathom even nearing such a standard. Forthright recognition of the unattainable standards of God as requirements to be in His kingdom is the first mark of understanding, humility, and submission of man for the need of a Savior.
Seek the Kingdom of God. Seek comfort from our Savior. Look forward to inheriting the earth. Seek rest in the satisfaction of God. Look forward to seeking God, and being in His family as a son. Rejoice and be glad for the reward will be great. Rest in this great hope.
The Beatitudes give us the most simple and pure explanation of our Savior and His life, His ministry, His attitude, and His person. This is how the Savior operated.
We opened today looking at contentedness. We considered how the Lord was contented in all ways in His life, in His ministry and with His Father. We saw that in Christ, we are to be like Christ, and therefore we are to exemplify this contentedness in our lives. Next, we looked at the Kingdom of God. We find here the great promise of God to those who first seek the Savior. Then, the great hope we have in our faith, which is born from our humble submission to the Savior for the recognition of His perfection, which is required for our salvation.
If you have never humbled yourself to God, if you have never accepted the Savior, if you have never recognized your depravity, and understood your need for the Savior–now is the time. Seek Him now, and He will give you access to the kingdom of God.
[1] Tan, Paul Tan, Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations, Bible Communications Inc: Dallas, 1998, p 2249.
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