November 4 Sermon: Blessed

Consider these questions as we look at Matthew 5:1-12:

1. Have you ever experienced a situation where you found blessings even amidst challenging or sorrowful circumstances? How did this experience shape your perspective on what it means to be blessed?

2. Pastor Mark describes an upside-down understanding of blessings, where qualities like being poor in spirit, meekness, and mourning over sin are considered as signs of being blessed. How does this contrast with societal notions of blessings? How do you strive to live out these characteristics in your own life?

3. The sermon emphasizes that the Beatitudes describe the nature and character of Jesus Christ, who perfectly embodied the qualities mentioned. How does recognizing Jesus as the perfect Kingdom man impact your understanding of your own faith journey and pursuit of living a kingdom-centered life?

Transcript:

Maybe you’ve never really stopped to ask this question, but my guess is that you know what it feels like. In my comings and goings, I spend time with people in interesting circumstances. At hospitals you can experience the joy of birth and the sorrow of death. You have the joy of family gathering together at baptisms and weddings, but we live with the knowledge that in a single moment that same family may have to gather together around a casket. Yet, in all of those circumstance we hear people speaking of how blessed they are. Naturally, we feel like being blessed is most tangible to us in the midst of joy but even in sorrow people will still speak of their blessings.

‌If you were to just look at this on the surface it doesn’t make much sense but yet we know this to be a truth in our lives. I asked several people this past week what it means to be blessed and the overwhelming response was that it was the things in our life that we see as gifts from God. As I was thinking on this idea I pointed my web browser to dictionary.com. I considered checking an actual physical dictionary but I figured I was blessed to be able to look it up without leaving my chair and so I lived into this idea of blessing.

‌There were three definitions. The first two didn’t relate to how we are using the word here but the third definition listed really fit what we’re talking about here. To be divinely or supremely favored or fortunate. Yep, that’s it. Even though I wouldn’t probably put it in those exact words that’s what I mean and I think it is what most people mean when they express this idea of being blessed. We see the things that we have and we know that ultimately they come to us from the hand of God.

‌You know why I’ve spent so much time on this word. As we come to our New Testament lesson for today we see that word over and over. A few years back I made a game to use with youth that was a name that tune trivia game based around television theme songs. To get things started off by helping the students feel comfortable with how the game was going to work the first TV theme song I used was from the 1960’s Batman show. As most of you know the song starts off with kind of a 60’s rock riff but then the only lyrics in the entire song are just the word Batman being sung over and over. Any time I used that game the students just looked at each other with expressions not sure if it was really that obvious. Of course, no one got the answer wrong. While there are more words than just blessed in this passage the words “blessed are” get repeated over and over. It is a passage that we shouldn’t miss the point of because it is Jesus telling his disciples over and over “Blessed are”.

‌So, as we come to chapter five of the gospel of Matthew it is important that we understand how we got to this point in the text. In the first four chapters we see the genealogy of Jesus connecting him to the promise of the Messiah, the one who would crush the head of the serpent. We then see the baptism of Jesus, his temptation, the beginning of his ministry, the calling of the disciples, and then right before we get to this teaching of Jesus we see that he is growing in popularity. He is proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing diseases and in doing so Matthew tells us that great crowds are following him.

‌So, to best summarize what is shaping up as we go land in chapter 5 is that we are seeing that Jesus is the messiah and what Matthew has told us about how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament and what he has done so far is helping us to see the authority of Jesus to teach. That is the flow we are meant to feel here and as I often say the chapter and verse breaks are very helpful for us to find stuff in the Bible but they can often get in the way of our really feeling the flow of the text. We are meant to feel the flow from there are great crowds from all over the place and then see the response to this right here in verse 1.

‌‌Jesus sees that the crowds are following him and so up he goes on he mountainside and he does something that is a bit strange to us modern folk. He sits down. We saw this a few weeks ago when the assigned texts had us in the gospel of Mark. We imagine someone speaking with an important message standing up. We may even image them moving around a stage and using their body to accentuate their point but that wasn’t how it worked in their culture. This was how a rabbi taught he sat down and taught his disciples.

‌Before we get into the content of his teaching here it is important that we acknowledge the significance of what Jesus has done here by sitting down and teaching. Remember Jesus has been healing and developing a crowd. What does he do with that? He does not build them up to incite revolution. He doesn’t work them to a fervor to get them to do what he wants them to do. Jesus sits down. The miracles had drawn crowds but he wants disciples. He wants to teach them and teach he does.

‌‌His disciples are gathered and what we hear from Jesus today is his bestowing covenant blessings but the blessings Jesus is talking about looks different than the standard expectations of blessings.

‌The word in the original language has a range of meanings similar to what we would have as blessing. It even includes happiness or the idea of being carefree. And truly to be blessed includes those things but right off the bat we see that what Jesus sees as the standard for being happy and blessed is not the same standard that we would see in the world.

‌Jesus says that blessed are those who are poor in spirit. Just that first sentence alone is a bit of a shock to our culture that seeks happiness in thrills and the next big thing. It is counter to a selfie culture that attempts to arrange every hair and even the silverware on their plates to put on the appearance that everything is just awesome and fantastic in our lives. All to the end that we can acquire more likes and followers on our social media platform of choice.

‌To be poor in spirit is contrary to our usual thinking about blessings. To be poor in spirit is to acknowledge that you don’t have it all together. To be poor in spirit is to realize that we are spiritually poor apart from God. We come to him with empty hands and trust that he will fill those empty hands with the gift of faith. Being poor in spirit we trust that he is the one who grants us the kingdom of heaven and he blesses us.

‌And this idea pours over into the next verse.

‌‌The idea here is not general mourning but in the context of what Jesus is talking about here it is the idea of mourning over our sin. Those who realize they are poor in spirit and have nothing to offer spiritually on their own are going to realize this. They will be comforted.

‌‌Blessed are the meek. They have an attitude of submission and humility before God and trust in him. They receive an inheritance of the earth. Pointing us forward to a day where we receive new, resurrection bodies in the new heavens and the new earth.

‌‌The bestowing of covenant blessings by Jesus flows in to verse where we see that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are filled.

‌This statement is one of the most easy for us to relate to. It uses imagery that we can so easily relate to. Hungering and thirsting even for those of us who have never missed a meal is something that we can relate to. We need nourishment and when we hunger and thirst after righteousness and the things of God our good Father will not let us starve. He does not give us a small ration to hold us over. Instead he pours out his blessing and his people are filled.

‌Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Again, this is a blessing bestowed by God and it is contrary to the way we generally think. In the mind of the world if you are merciful it is assumed you will be taken advantage of. If you don’t look out for yourself you are in trouble but instead when we show mercy we receive mercy.

‌‌And blessed are the pure in heart. Those who are pure in heart do not turn away to their own desires and seek after the things of the world. They worship the God who is and in doing so they are blessed by him and can have confidence that they will one day stand in his presence, clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ.

‌As we continue through these statements we see that peacemakers are blessed also. As disciples of Jesus we are sent out to bring peace to the world. Peace comes not through peace treaties and arrangements made between nations but instead by the proclamation of the gospel that says that in Jesus Christ the wall of hostility has been torn down. There is peace with God because of the work of Jesus and this brings peace between individuals too because there is no distinction of Jew or Gentile, slave or free, in Jesus Christ. He has not only torn down the walls that separate but also calls his followers to make peace. And not just with the people that we like but even with our enemies. In doing this we are acknowledged as the sons of God.

‌‌And the upside down nature of all this continues into the next blessing. Blessed are those who are persecuted. What? How in the world could persecution be seen as a blessing? In our congregational prayer each week we pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. Have you ever thought “those people are blessed”? No, this is backwards from our way of thinking. But they are blessed because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus didn’t promise us prosperity despite what those who preach the false prosperity gospel have to tell us. He promised persecution and this is because his followers trust not in the things of this world or even in themselves. Those who are in Christ trust in the cross and that is a scandal to the world. In fact, the New Testament calls it an offense. If we are trusting in Christ we are trusting in the work of Jesus for us when he bore the wrath of God for our sin. This is a target for persecution because it says that righteousness and salvation exist outside of us but instead rest on the work of God. The world finds this offensive but it is our only hope. It is the reason our inheritance is the kingdom of heaven.

‌‌And we are to rejoice in this. Not just put up with it and be angry with them in our hearts. Rejoice for it is a sign that we are following the truth of God’s Word because this is how those who proclaimed the kingdom of God before us were treated. Rejoice for it is a sign that you have been blessed by God with the greatest blessing that we can have. Faith and trust in Jesus Christ as we trust in him alone as our salvation and our life in the kingdom of heaven.

‌Now I’ve ripped through these 12 blessings pretty quickly. Each one could be expanded on extensively but I hope that what has come through about these is more of the big picture of what is going on in this passage as opposed to focusing on the smaller details. Jesus is painting a picture here for us for a person who is a kingdom person. Someone who trusts in God alone and who loves their neighbor. Someone who clings to the truth of God’s Word.

‌Often these statements of blessing are looked at as quid pro quo. If you do these things then God will bless you. So, if you want to be blessed look for ways to do these things. But that isn’t how any of this works. These verses describe what disciples of Christ look like and it is a mature person of faith. It isn’t someone who is doing these things looking for a reward. It is a kingdom person who is trusting in the grace, mercy, and goodness of God. This is not an if you do this then this blessing will come to you. The blessings are defined for us. This is not a formula for getting God to give you the blessings you really want.

‌Jesus is spelling out the blessed life and it is so completely upside down from what we expect. Instead, the blessed life is a gift from God because it comes to us through our faith and trust in him.

‌As we look back on these statements there is something that I notice. If this is the portrait of the kingdom person then I sadly fall short of this. There are times when I am anything but poor in spirit. I can be proud and self righteous. I mourn over my sin, but probably not like I should. I am not always meek but instead can be proud. While I hunger and thirst for righteousness there I times where I hunger after what I want not what God wants. This is difficult and a struggle for me and I am guessing being a kingdom woman or a kingdom man is difficult for you too.

‌There is something important that we see here though as we look over this description of the blessed life. They show us the nature and character of Jesus Christ. He is truly, the one and only perfect Kingdom man. He was poor in spirit, trusting in God. He mourned over our sin and the death that it brings. He was meek and lowly. He hungered and thirsted for righteousness. He was merciful and pure in heart. He brought peace through his work for us and he was most certainly persecuted and reviled.

‌I do not point to these things as only an example of how we can be a kingdom person. Instead, I proclaim the good news of the gospel to you that Jesus did all of these things and he did them for you. He was the perfect kingdom man and he bore the wrath of God for your sin. We receive this gift of his perfect righteousness by grace through faith. We come to him poor in spirit knowing we have zero righteousness of our own and trust that his perfect righteousness is credited to us.

‌This is the good news that we center our lives on then. Because our guilt has been covered by the grace of Christ we respond in gratitude by living this kingdom life to the glory and honor and praise of our Lord Jesus Christ.

‌These are not rungs on the ladder for us to climb to blessedness. No, they are who we are in Christ. We are blessed because we have been given the gift of faith and have been united to him.

‌We center our lives on that good news and love our neighbor desiring to conform our lives to the word of God.

‌And it is truly a blessed thing that we have the opportunity to come to the table this morning in remembrance, communion, and hope. We have been blessed by the work of Jesus for us and we come to the table trusting that God is going to work through this meal by the proclamation of the word by the power of the Spirit. I want to challenge you this morning as the elements pass you buy reach for them boldly. Reach for them trusting that this is the place where God is meeting with us to build you up in faith. Trust that the Holy Spirit is working in you to conform you to the image of the son. Come to the Lord’s Table today hungering and thirsting for righteousness trusting that God is meeting with you in word and sacrament for your good and his glory that you may believe and know that you are blessed by God.