Who Am I? The Gospel According to Matthew Week 11

The Gospel According to Matthew

The Sermon on the Mount

 

This past week has been quite a remarkable experience.  I went to some meetings in Southern California where the topic was the Sermon on the Mount.  As found in Matthew.  I can not begin to explain what a profound experience it was.  Everyday as we worked our way through the sermon each presentation left me feeling as if I had been autopsied.  Sliced open getting to the deep inside of my heart.  It left nothing to hide, nothing to fake, nothing.  The only option was to give Christ full access to all inside and let Him do His transforming work. 

 

As we go through this sermon, I pray that we will remember we are in this study asking the question who am I? 

 

READ:  Matthew 5: 1-12  The Beatitudes

 

The Beatitudes.  What comes to mind when you hear the "Beatitudes"  What has this passage meant to you in the past?

 

I will confess for me it is the passage of "blessed"  blessed is this and that.  End of story.  

 

So let us take it verse by verse.

 

Matthew 5: 3

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

For Jesus to start off this way was earth shattering.  A real crowd stopper.  It was a complete departure from what the crowds had been hearing and believing.  At the time the Priests and Rabbis were quite puffed up.  There messages were about how grand they were. Those who were less, ill, broken, poor in spirit were shut out, sent away, shunned.  So this message was strange yet a huge blessing.  

 

Ellen White in her book "The Mount of Blessings" writes, "He who feels whole, who thinks that he is reasonably good, and is contented with his condition, does not seek to become a partaker of the grace and righteousness of Christ.  Pride feels no need, and so it closes the heart against Christ and the infinite blessings He came to give.  There IS NO ROOM FOR JESUS IN THE HEART OF SUCH A PERSON.... Those who know that they cannot possibly save themselves, or of themselves do any righteous action, are the ones who appreciate the help that Christ can bestow.  They are the poor in spirit, who He declares to be blessed."

 

So right off the bat Jesus is saying that those who are blessed who will have the kingdom of heaven, they are the ones who feel they are nothing!  Those are the ones who know their need of Christ. 

 

1. The more we find ourselves learning and growing in Christ how do we make sure that we don't fall into the trap of the Priests and Rabbis?  

 

2.  How do we keep our deep need, our "poor in spirit" going?  

 

Verse 4&5: 

Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.

 

Verse 4 is talking about two types of mourning.  It is about those who are suffering from loss, but it is also a "true heart sorrow for sin." (EGW MBp9) 

 

Verse 5... Meek.  What is it to be meek? 

Websters dictionary online says,

 

quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on; submissive.

"I used to call her Miss Mouse because she was so meek and mild"

synonyms:

submissive, yielding, obedient, compliant, tame, biddable, tractable, acquiescent, humble, deferential, timid, unprotesting, unresisting, like a lamb to the slaughter;

  

Here again Jesus is turning upside down what the crowd knows to be true.  It isn't the meek who inherit the earth.  It is those who fight, those who are strong, and right.  Once again it isn't to just anyone, it is the meek, the ones who are willing to be yielding to Christ.  Those are who will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.   

1. What is righteousness?

2. So what is verse 6 saying then?

 

Those who hunger and thirst after Jesus... they will be filled.

Those who hunger and thirst after Jesus...they will be filled!

 

 

⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.

 

Ellen White writes again in the Mount of Blessings this, "The Jews were so exacting in regard to ceremonial purity that their regulations were extremely burdensome.  Their minds were occupied with rules and restrictions and the fear of outward defilement, and they did not perceive the stain that selfishness and malice impart to the soul."

 

Here again Jesus is not interested in what is known to be the outward obedience, but is looking at a much deeper place, the heart.  It is a pure heart that is only possible through him that he is asking for.  
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.

 

 

We know that a name for God is Prince of Peace.  So hear again, it is our connection to Christ our willingness to be part of, surrendered to Him where we find our identity. Children of God.  

 

¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.   

Jesus doesn't tell us that all will be peaches and cream when we follow Him, in fact here he is letting us know that the who idea of blessings being prosperity, fame, or recognition is put to rest.  He makes it clear that this life may not be easy.  But here then he goes on and tells us something to do....

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

In this opening passage of this great sermon Jesus makes it clear that he is not any other teacher.  He has a new message and turn things upside down message.  He wants these people, he wants us to know that he has a message for all.  He has a message that is not about being great but has everything to do with our need for him.  All he needs is our need.  All he needs is our need.  He just needs us to need him.  To be willing to surrender to him, to be broken, to take the masks off that we wear. Jesus is saying there is no room for masks.  No room for anything other than true transparency, honesty with him.  He doesn't want you with a mask of I have it all together, or the mask of I'm going to fix myself first before coming to you, or the mask of I'm not so bad.  He just wants you to come.

So who am I?