1 The Beatitudes And The Gospel Of The Kingdom
1 The Beatitudes and the Gospel of the Kingdom
Today we begin with a new study that will take us eight weeks a couple of weeks into the New year .
It was for me the natural follow-on after the Parables that Jesus told to teach His listeners. Though it took place before the teachings of the parables, it is still as important and just as powerful and significant for us today as Christians.The teaching of Jesus that has come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount, is recorded in the gospel of Matthew and similar teachings can also be found in Luke's gospel. Both gospel accounts have this teaching that happened early in Jesus' public ministry. It contains some of his best known teaching and instruction for living. Some people regard the Sermon on the Mount as "Jesus' manifesto". It is often summarised as "Do to others what you would have them do to you."
Much of what Jesus taught here is about personal relationships and how people should behave towards one another.
There is some discussion about whether Jesus said all of these sayings at the same time.
Some scholars think that they were just remembered and put together as one sermon by the early Church.
Matthew's gospel states that Jesus preached the sermon on a mountain, whereas Luke's gospel has Jesus coming down from a mountain and addressing a crowd of people on a plain (flat land).
Others suggest that Matthew's gospel is aimed at a Jewishaudience and in order to get Jews thinking about how the Old Testament laws and the teaching of Jesus applied to each other, may have set the scene on a mountain. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Moses received the Jewish law on Mount Sinai so for consistency some believe Matthew set Jesus giving his interpretation of the law on a mountain.
In contrast it is thought Luke's gospel was aimed at a gentile (non-Jewish) audience and the action was set on a plain with all the people listening. Whatever the explanation, both accounts contain the same teaching.
The Sermon on the Mount contains key teaching that Jesus himself demonstrated by the way he lived and in what he taught throughout his ministry. It starts with the Beatitudes -short sayings about who is blessed, the Lord's prayer (how we should approach God in prayer) and the story of the wise man who built his house upon the rock, along with other well known stories and sayings. The rest of the Sermon on the Mount covers teaching on the Jewish law, anger, adultery, divorce and re-marriage, vows, revenge and love of enemies, charity, prayer and fasting, riches and possessions and judging others. Jesus frequently uses examples from the Jewish law to build his teaching on and explains that he himself is the fulfilment of the law.
In short…
The Sermon on the Mount is a summary of a Christian lifestyle. Even though Jesus was speaking to an audience in first century Galilee and some of the circumstances and practices that his audience engaged in have changed, the way people treated one another, their attitudes, desires and behaviors can still been seen in the way people live today. If the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount can be summarized as "Do to others as you would have them do to you" then the lesson is that if one is quick to accuse someone else of a failing, then one forgets that one is only human too.
This should make people more sensitive to each other and more ready to forgive. This is not to say that one has to agree with the way another behaves or cannot challenge wrong behavior but people should stop and think about their own lives before they criticize the behavior of others. The challenge is to think about the way one behaves towards others and one's own inner thoughts and attitudes.
Many unsuspecting Christians approach the Beatitudes as they would a personality test.
Though they may not be poor in spirit or pure in heart, they are delighted and relieved when they think that they possess one trait they believe qualifies them for the Kingdom of God. But Jesus is not giving descriptions about those who will enter his Kingdom, but He gives a single description. He is not describing qualities that some of his people may possess and that others will not. Jesus is giving a description of the attributes of the most plain, most ordinary Christian who will spend eternity with him.
The average Christian is humble, but they also mourn over their sin. They are gentle, but they thirst to know Jesus more through the Scriptures. They hunger to do the righteousness that Jesus teaches them and they pray with meekness. Christians are a merciful people, but they are also unselfishly caring without an agenda. They are a people who seek peace, but they expect persecution because their character stands so opposite of the world.
Jesus opened his famous sermon describing what his people will look like, must look like, because he was describing himself. Since the Christian has Jesus living inside them, it is only natural that they look like him in every respect. They do not have just one or two of his qualities they have all of them. So the Beatitudes describe the Christian fully and they serve as warning for all those pretenders who claim to be .Christians are not perfect people. They are not perfectly humble, seekers of righteousness and peace, and persecuted for his name's sake. But they do possess faith, which slowly leads them down the paths of righteousness that swallows them up, day by day, into Christ's perfect character. The Beatitudes show the goodness of Christ's heart and the heart he offers us if we would place our hope and trust in him.
We begin today with an introduction to the eight week series on the Beatitudes
Matthew 5:3-12.
The Sermon on the Mount
1 One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, 2 and he began to teach them.The Beatitudes
3 "God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,[a] for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,[]for they will be satisfied.7 God blesses those who are merciful,for they will be shown mercy.8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure,for they will see God.9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.11 "God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.
But our focus today has to be on the group as a whole in the wider context of Jesus’ ministry.
We have to answer the questions,
What are these beatitudes?
Do they spell out conditions we must meet in order to inherit eternal life?
Do they celebrate the power of God in the life of the disciples? Could it be both?
How do we know?
Let’s begin today by with our lens open more widely than just the beatitudes. Then we will narrow it down to the beatitudes themselves.
The Structure of MatthewMatthew 4:23. Is a summary statement of Jesus’ earthly ministry: “23 Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.One way to restate that verse would be to say that Jesus made it his ministry to:Preach the coming of the kingdom, Teach the way of the kingdom, and Demonstrate the purpose and power of the kingdom by healing the sick. Preaching, teaching, and healing.
Let's turn to Matthew 9:35. Almost verbatim we find the same summary: “ 35 Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.“
Then when we look to see what is sandwiched between these two summary descriptions of Jesus’ ministry, what we see are two major sections: chapters 5-7 are a collection of Jesus’ teaching called the Sermon on the Mount; and chapters 8 and 9 are a collection of stories mainly about his healing ministry. So we have a five chapter unit designed by Matthew to present us first with some typical teaching of the Lord concerning the way of the kingdom, and second with some typical healings and miracles to demonstrate the power of the kingdom.
The value of seeing this is that it warns us against treating any little piece of this section in isolation. Matthew puts his material together in a particular way.
He is the inspired apostle, and we should care about how he chose to put things together. That is the way he gets across his meaning.
The Jesus Who Teaches and HealsFor example, one thing we can say is that you can’t have the Jesus of the Sermon of the Mount without The Jesus who cleansed the leper, and Healed the centurion’s servant, and Stilled the storm, and Cast out demons. The writer who gives us the one, gives us the other, Somebelievers, say that they admire the ethical teacher of the Sermon on the Mount but they don’t want to get involved with the spooky supernatural Person who stills storms and casts out demons.But then you will find believers who may have a charismatic fascination with the miracles of Jesus, but they are not so interested in this radical intruder into their personal lifestyle who said:“Don’t call your brother a fool, don’t lust, don’t get divorced, don’t swear, don’t return evil for evil, love your enemy”Matthew’s point is that the Lord who teaches the Sermon on the Mount is the same Lord who calls us to follow him through life and depend upon his power. His personal work and power are inseparable from his teaching. In fact we will see right away that this is clear even in the beatitudes.
The Crowds and the Disciples Let’s look at Matthew 5:1ff.1 One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, 2 and he began to teach them.The audience is probably two concentric circles: the inner circle of the disciples, and the outer circle of the “crowds.” It says in verse 1 that he taught his disciples. But look at the end of the sermon in Matthew 7:28-2928 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,29 for he taught with real authority-quite unlike their teachers of religious law.
So it is clear that the crowds were listening and that Jesus wanted them to listen even though the sermon is primarily addressed to professing disciples. I believe that the Spirit-anointed, authoritative preaching of the Word of God has a peculiar power to awaken unbelievers to the truth and beauty of Christ-even when it is addressed primarily to disciples. So I would urge you to feel free to invite any one to our Fridaystudy services here at Thembalami.It is precisely the things our Lord has to say to US that can awaken desire in others to come to Christ.
The Sermon Begins
So the sermon begins with the disciples gathered at the feet of Jesus and with the crowds listening in.
How will the Lord begin? He begins by pronouncing a certain kind of fortunate person. We call these pronouncements “beatitudes” from the Latin word for happiness or blessedness. Let’s see how the whole group is put together.
Eight Beatitudes, One Unit
There are eight beatitudes worded in the same way. Verse 11 could be viewed as a ninth one, but it is really an expansion of verse 10 and is worded differently from the others. It says, “11 "God blesses you when people mock you None of the others say, “God blesses you.” It is probably an expansion of verse 10, which says, “God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” The mock in verse 11 is a specific instance of the persecution in verse 10.You can see that the eight beatitudes of verses 3-10 are a unit when you look at the first and the eighth. Notice the promise of the first beatitude in verse 3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And notice the promise of the eighth beatitude in verse 10: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Both of them have the identical promise, “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
But the other six beatitudes sandwiched between these two are all different. Verse 4: “For they will be comforted.” Verse 5: “For they will inherit the earth.” Verse 6: “For they will be satisfied.” Verse 7: “For they will obtain mercy.” Verse 8: “For they will see God.” Verse 9: “For they will be called the children of God.”
Future Promises Sandwiched by Present Assurance
Notice that all of these are promises for the future. “They will be comforted . . . They will inherit the earth . . . They will be satisfied . . . ” And so on. But the promise of the first and last beatitude in verses 3 and 10 seems to relate to the present: the disciples are assured that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Now what is the meaning of this pattern? I think there are at least two implications.
The Blessings of the Kingdom
First, by sandwiching six promises in between two assurances that such people have the kingdom of heaven, I think Jesus means to tell us that these six promises are blessings of the kingdom. In other words, these six things are what you can count on when you are a part of God’s kingdom. This is what the kingdom brings: comfort, earth ownership, satisfied righteousness, mercy, a vision of God, and the awesome title, child of God. You don’t have to pick and choose among these promises. They all belong to the kingdom. That is the first implication I see in the fact that Jesus begins with the assurance, “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” and ends with the assurance, “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” with six promises sandwiched in between.
A Present yet Future Kingdom
The other implication of this pattern comes from the fact that the first and last assurances are present tense, and the six in the middle are future. “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven” in verses 3 and 10. But, “They will be comforted . . . They will inherit the earth . . . ” and so on in verses 4-9. I think this is Jesus’ way of saying that in some sense the kingdom of heaven is present with the disciples now (“Theirs is the kingdom of heaven”) but that the full blessings of the kingdom will have to wait for the age to come (“They will inherit the earth”).
Another way to put it is that Jesus has brought the kingdom of heaven to earth in his own kingly power and fellowship, and we can enjoy foretastes of it here and now; but the full experience of the life of the kingdom will have to wait for the age to come.
You can see exactly what this means right here in the beatitudes.
Being Comforted
Take several examples. Verse 4 says that those who mourn will one day be comforted. AsRevelation 21:4 says
“4 God will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever."But look at verses 11 and 12: 11 "God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven” In other words, even though the final reward of comfort is kept for us in heaven, we can now rejoice even in the midst of suffering. And this joy is a foretaste of the promised comfort? There is no joy without some element of comfort.
Obtaining Mercy
Or consider verse 7: It promises, “They will obtain mercy.”But in the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-35 the king says to the wicked servant, “33 Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' In other words, Jesus teaches that we do not merely wait for the age to come to receive mercy. It has come in Jesus. We taste it here and now in forgiveness of sins and countless blessings of this life.
Being Called Children of God
Or consider verse 9. It promises, “9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.” As Romans 8:23 says, “ 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,[a] including the new bodies he has promised us..But look at verse 16 of Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.God is already our Father! We are already His children! That is, we have a foretaste of being descendants now.
The point of these three examples is that the kingdom of heaven is both present and future. We have foretastes of the reign of God now, But we will experience vastly more in the future. I think this is why verses 3 and 10 assure us that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” but verses 4-9 promise that the kingdom blessings are still in the future. It is both now and to come.
One of the Most Important Lessons
And this is one of the most important things you can learn about the Christian faith. Without this insight the Sermon on the Mount simply cannot be understood.For example, what will you make of verse 7 without this insight that the kingdom blessings of God’s mercy are both present and future? It says, “7 God blesses those who are merciful,for they will be shown mercy..”Does this mean that God withholds his mercy until the future day of reckoning and waits to see if we will be merciful enough to earn his mercy? That is what it looks like it says.
But if you know the gospel of the kingdom Matthew 4:2323 Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom.Matthew 24:1414 And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations[a] will hear itand that is, if you know the good news that the kingdom has already come and is now at work like a dragnet gathering in a people for the kingdom Matthew 13:47-5047 "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net that was thrown into the water and caught fish of every kind. If you know that the power of the kingdom is already present as well as future, then you will know that our becoming merciful is (right now!) a work of God’s kingly mercy. That is the point of Matthew 18:33–The king said “33 Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?'” God’s prior mercy enables us to be merciful. The powerful mercy of the kingdom has already come in Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
God is not just waiting like a Judge at the end of the age to see whether or not we will be able to earn his mercy then by showing mercy now. God is not merely waiting, he is casting the net of mercy into the sea of the world and dragging people to life and hope and joy and mercy John 6:44“44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me,“John 6:65
65 Then he said, "That is why I said that people can't come to me unless the Father gives them to me."
The Mercy of the Kingdom Already in the World The mercy of the kingdom is in the world drawing people to Christ. The mercy of the kingdom is in the world opening people’s eyes to Christ. Do you remember what Jesus said to Peter when Peter confessed him to be the Messiah? Matthew 16:1717 Jesus replied, "You are blessed, Simon son of John,(Greek Simon bar-Jonah)because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.God is not waiting to see if Peter will recognize Jesus as the Messiah. He opened his eyes. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you Simon! God has!You did not choose him first; he chose youJohn 15:1616 You didn't choose me. I chose you. You did not come to him first; he drew you John 6:44 44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me,You did not recognize Christ first; God opened your eyes Acts 26:1818 to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.All this is mercy, mercy, mercy! Romans 9:1616 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.Let's try and grasp this and make it part of our very being. Many passages of Scripture teach that God will show mercy on us in the future if we live a certain way now. Many other passages of Scripture teach that God has already shown us mercy, enabling us to live in a certain way now. These are not inconsistent. This is the very fabric of biblical life. We are born anew by the mercy of God. We are sanctified by the mercy of God. And when we get to the judgment seat of God, he will say, “You are still a sinner. But I see in your life the distinguishing fruit of my Son’s mercy. Your mercy on others is the evidence of his mercy in you. And for his sake I now show you mercy again. Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
Seeing the Beatitudes for What They Are
Unless you see the beatitudes as part of this biblical fabric, you will not be able to understand them for what they are. They are an announcement of how fortunate people are who already possess, as it were, the power of the kingdom. You might say: “Blessed! Blessed! And fortunate are you who have the kingdom power at work within you, for you will inherit the kingdom with all its infinite pleasures forever and ever.” The beatitudes are announcements that people like this are very blessed, very fortunate.
But that is not all. The beatitudes also contain an implicit invitation to become this kind of person. The disciples sit at Jesus’ feet and hear his words as congratulations. O how fortunate you are, my dear brothers!O how fortunate you are to be chosen of God, to have your eyes opened, to be drawn to the Saviour, to be poor and mourning and meek and hungry and merciful and pure and peaceable! Rejoice! Rejoice and give thanks, my beloved disciples, that you are this kind of person, for it is not your own doing!It is the reign of God in your life.” So the disciples hear the beatitudes as words of celebration about the work of God in their lives.
But what about the crowds standing behind the disciples? How do they hear these words of congratulations? How should they hear them, if they are not poor in spirit, if they are not mourning or meek or hungry for righteousness or merciful or pure or peaceable? What do these words mean for them? To them they are certainly not congratulations. You can’t congratulate a guest on his wedding garment if he doesn’t have it on (Matthew 22:11-14).
What then? If you see people being welcomed to a feast with a certain garment on, don’t the words of welcome stir you up to go get a garment like that? And if you see people being promised the blessings of eternal life because they are poor in spirit and mourning and meek and hungry for righteousness and merciful and pure and peaceable, don’t those words of promise beckon you to become that kind of person? Indeed, don’t they produce in you the seeds of those very flowers? Perhaps not. But for some they do. And if they don’t in you, Should you not pray that God would not leave you in such a hard and unrepentant condition.
So the beatitudes are words of celebration for disciples-people who have been awakened by the present power of the age to come. And they are words of invitation for the crowds-the people who come to worship out of tradition or curiosity or scepticism. And for some they are words of transformation-by the power and mercy of God.
What Are They for You?Next week we begin with the best news a hopeless sinner could ever hear, that is the condition we must be in to have any dealings with God and that is spiritual bankruptcy. It is the easiest, but also the hardestcondition of them all. What could be easier than having an empty hand?