Blessed in God's Promises

Blessed in God’s Promises

Matthew 5:1-12
Sunday, January 30, 2011

SCRIPTURE STORY:

After Jesus called his first Disciples he went throughout Galilee. He taught in the synagogues and proclaimed the good news of God’s kingdom. He healed all manner of disease and sickness, and great crowds followed him. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the side of a mountain and sat down. He began to teach them about God’s promises.

·         Blessed are you who don’t have it all together.

·         Blessed are you who ache because of how severely out of whack the world is.

·         Blessed are you who have run out of strength, ideas, will power, resolve, or energy.

·         Blessed are you who stumble, trip, and fall in the same place again and again and again.

·         Blessed are you who on a regular basis have a dark day in which despair seems to be a just one step behind you wherever you go.

·         Blessed are you, for God is with you, God is on your side, God meets you in that place.

(Rob Bell’s modern re-telling of the Beatitudes)

Let us pray…

Holy God, we are blessed in your promises and we come to you now, humbly, to receive your Word.

I pray that your words will be my words and that your thoughts will be our thoughts.

Guide us now in the hearing of the Gospel message.

In Jesus’ Holy Name…Amen

We’ve heard The Beatitudes before…

They may even be one of the most familiar passages in the New Testament…

They mark the beginning of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount…

We’ve read about them in Sunday school…

We’ve seen them in movies…

You have probable heard them preached a time or two…

The version you just heard is a little different from what you’re used to…

But, I want us to use this opportunity to look at this passage in a new way…

I want us to hear these words and try to imagine what they mean for us today…

The first thing we need to do is recognize who Jesus was speaking to…

The story tells us that Jesus had been travelling throughout the area…

He attracted crowds of sick, lame, paralyzed, and demon-possessed people…

He was followed by the sick, the troubled, and the down-and-out…

He healed them all…He ministered to all of them…

So, one thing we know for sure is that these same troubled and broken people were the ones gathered around him for this sermon…

That is important for us to remember…The broken, down-and-out regular folks – like us – gathered to listen to Jesus

It’s also important for us to understand that the word “blessed” should not be confused with the word “happy” we so often hear when this text is read…

Jesus isn’t talking to us about being happy here – about being in a good mood, or feeling good about our situation…

The word Jesus uses means: a fortunate state of life – experiencing God’s favor…

Jesus is revealing a new perspective here – a kingdom perspective…God’s perspective

It is this perspective I hope we can use today to re-visit the blessedness we find in God’s promise

“Blessed are the poor in spirit…Blessed are those who are not only economically deprived, but who also stand before God with no illusions of self-righteousness or self-sufficiency.

They are favored in God’s kingdom.

Like all the Beatitudes, this is a huge reversal for the ancients…Only the rich and powerful enjoy favored status – the poor are not worthy; this is also why the idea of “poor in spirit” is important – the self-righteous are not the favored as they believe.

“Blessed are those who mourn…Blessed are those who grieve over sin and evil in this world; they will be consoled/comforted

Certainly, those who suffer personal grief find comfort in their faith and God’s promise.

More importantly, however, when we mourn the collective and corporate sin of which we are a part, we confess to God and acknowledge that we do not always do the things God expects of us as citizens of this world.

Whenever we have the courage to stand before God and take responsibility for our contribution to corporate sins of this world, God will comfort us.

“Blessed are the meek…Blessed are those who are lowly and powerless, those whose only hope is in God; they will find the hope God promises; they will inherit the earth

Jesus isn’t talking about weak or spineless people here; this isn’t for the faint of heart.

Jesus is talking about those who courageously follow him in spite of their lack of means or status in the community…These are people who face the giants from positions of powerlessness that are not of their own making.

The last shall be first…the first shall be last

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…Blessed are those who yearn for the final salvation that only God can bring; they will be filled with saving grace.

It’s a familiar image to think of longing for justice as “hunger”…

God sees those who truly seek justice and righteousness; who truly hunger and thirst and yearn for God’s will to prevail…

God promises to fill them one day.

“Blessed are the merciful…Blessed are those who avoid judgment and embrace forgiveness; they will be forgiven; they will receive mercy

The Bible tells us not judge or we will be judged…

Jesus says that God will forgive us just we forgive others…

If we are to enjoy God’s mercy, we must first demonstrate the mercy God demands of us.

“Blessed are the pure in heart…Blessed are those who are undivided in their loyalty to God; they will see God.

A “pure heart” is an undivided heart…No false gods; no misguided loyalties;
true devotion to God and God’s will…

Purity like that comes from avoiding anything in this world that distracts us from God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers…Blessed are those who work for the wholeness and well-being that God wills for our broken world; they are God’s children.

This isn’t just about diplomacy and non-violence; it’s also about helping to pick up the pieces of a world torn apart by human sin, in whatever form it manifests itself, and putting them back together – healing the wounds our sin causes.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…Blessed are those who suffer because they serve God; they will be comforted.

Ancient Christians and Jews knew slavery and persecution; they counted on God’s promises to redeem their suffering and bring them to eternal peace.

Modern victims of The Holocaust, genocide, and religious and ethnic cleansing know what suffering truly feels like; they too count on God’s promises of redemption and eternal peace.

Anyone who suffers because of their devotion to God is promised a place in God’s kingdom…forever.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account…”

Blessed are you when people talk against you, make up lies about you, and seek to bring evil against you because you serve God.

It seems that our culture has a way of holding God’s people up to ridicule;
of misunderstanding and misrepresenting what they do not have.

Maybe it is jealousy, or greed, or simply pettiness, but those who don’t share our belief prefer to make fun of it or try to destroy it.

A wise minister once told me that you can always tell when you are doing the right thing – Somebody will try to stop you.

Rejoice and be glad for God will welcome you into his kingdom
and your reward will be great!

We must resist the temptation to think of the Beatitudes as a Christian Philosophy of Life…

This is not a system designed to make us more successful and calm today…

Christianity is not a scheme to reduce stress, lose weight, advance your career,
or keep you healthy…

Christianity is a way of living based on the firm and sure hope that God’s future will be a time of mercy and not cruelty; a time when righteousness and peace will prevail.

The gospel is the counter-intuitive, joyous, exuberant news that Jesus has brought the unending, limitless, stunning love of God to even us.

It is radical good news that turns the ancient world upside down and challenges us to continue to seek healing and freedom in the broken world of the 21^st Century.

Blessed are those who live this life now, even when such a life seems foolish, for we will – in the end – be vindicated by God.

When God is in charge the world will be a very different place.

This is the gospel that calls even us “blessed” in the promises of God.

Amen.