• We are in a spiritual war
• Luke 21:16-17 – People will hate you because of Christ
• You may lose your friends
• You may lose your family
• Despite this Jesus commands us to rejoice

Matthew 5:10-12

The Paradox of the beautitudes

• What the world sees as weak and undesirable, Christ calls blessed.
  ie. blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, etc.
• Blessed are the persecuted is the most profound
  The Jews believed that persecution was caused by wickedness
  Jesus makes this personal – When YOU are persecuted

There are three different types of affronts on the Christian

• Reproach – to shame, heap insults
  Mk. 15:32 – The Roman soldiers heaped insults on Christ
• Slander
  Defcon advertisement in the NY Times falsely accused Dr. Dobson of supporting gambling
• Violent persecution
  Surabaya, ID June 9th 1996 – Black Sunday
  10 churches were destroyed and pastors faced opposition to continue meeting

Three different ways to respond

• Be glad.. exceedingly glad (Matt 5:12)
  This takes much faith
  You are in good company with the prophets
• Pray
  Pray for those that persecute you (Matt. 5:44)
• Support the persecuted church
  Matt 25:39-40 – You are supporting Christ
  Tertullian – the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.

The Beatitudes according to our society:

• Blessed are the rich for they shall be envied.
• Blessed are the powerful for they shall be feared.
• Blessed are the talented for they shall be rewarded.
• Blessed are the beautiful for they shall admired.
• Blessed are the strong for they shall be respected.

People associate happiness with success, power, confidence, and conquest.

The Beatitudes according to our Lord Jesus:

• Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Mat 5:3
• Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Mat 5:4
• Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Mat 5:5
• Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Mat 5:6

Progression in thought:

• One senses his own sinfulness (Matt. 5:3)
• Results in mourning (v. 4).
• Then he focuses on God’s holiness/ greatness, which makes him meek (v. 5).
• That in turn produces a hunger for righteousness (v. 6).

Definition of “Meekness”:

• It’s NOT weak, deficiency in spirit and courage, “Blessed are the cowardly.”
• It means “mild,” “gentle,” and “soft.”
• A meek person is gentle, tenderhearted, patient, and submissive.

The Greeks used the word to describe:

• a soothing medicine,
• a gentle breeze, or
• a domesticated colt.

True meekness is “POWER under CONTROL”

• Medicine taken in the proper dosage can be helpful, but an overdose may kill.
• A gentle breeze cools and soothes, but a hurricane kills.
• A domesticated horse is useful but an undomesticated one is wild and destructive.

Example of a MEEK person: Moses

Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Num 12:3
Yet he was the man who killed an Egyptian to protect an Israelite slave.
On behalf of God he told Pharaoh, “Let my people go” (Ex. 5:1).

When Moses came down to the camp of Israel after receiving the 10 Commandments on Mt Sinai, he saw them worshiping a golden calf and doing immoral acts. “Moses’ anger burned, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it” (Ex. 32:19-20).

Now that doesn’t sound like a meek man according to our society’s standards. But the reason Moses was so angry was that the Israelites had violated one of God’s commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3). He was defending God. When God chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Ex. 3:7-10) Moses tried to decline. He thought himself inadequate and ineloquent. He would not defend himself before God, but he would defend the Lord before anyone. That’s what meekness is all about.

Moses demonstrated his meekness:
He was slandered, personally attacked, his authority challenged yet he did not retaliate. He interceded for Miriam after she was stricken with leprosy. Num 12

LESSON #1: we do not have justify or vindicate ourselves. God will do so for us.

Lesson #2: God gives grace to those who are humble.

• All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
• Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 1Pe 5:5-6

Lesson #3: A meek person does not seek revenge.

• Rom 12:19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
• Rom 12:20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
• Rom 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Blessed
Click here for lyric

Friend of God
Click here for lyric

Still Standing
Click here for lyric

At the Cross
Click here for lyric

Amazed
Click here for lyric

Made Me Glad
Click here for lyric

The blessed life

Most people want to be blessed.
Many pray for blessings.
But what does it mean to be blessed?
Many see blessings are about health, wealth, and protection.
But blessed includes so much more.

Meaning of blessedness

It does not merely mean “HAPPY.”
(Happiness tends to be “me” oriented).
Blessed has to do with our soul – a sense of inner well being.
Greek usage, makarios came to refer to the elite class.
Received earthly, material things: a good wife, many children, abundant crops, riches, honor, wisdom, beauty, good health, etc. A blessed person had more things and better things than an ordinary person. To be blessed, you had to have big and beautiful things and lived above the normal cares, problems, and worries of normal people.

The world pronounces blessings on the rich and the powerful; the high and the mighty.
But Jesus pronounces God’s blessings on the lowly: the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the meek, the mourning.

The Beatitudes

• Sermon on the Mount – Matt 5:1-12
• Beatitudes (Latin-beatus, “blessed”) gives 8 pronouncements, each beginning with the phrase, “Blessed are …”
• They contradict logic and cultural values.
• They form a Road Map to a blessed life.

Beatitude #1 - Blessed are the poor in spirit

Contradicts the American philosophy –

• “Land of the Free; Home of the Brave: America.”
• “Pull Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps.”
• “I Did It My Way.”
• Self-reliance, Self-confidence, Self-help.
• Three-Self Patriotic Movement - patriotic Christian org in the China:  self-governance, self-support and self-propagation.

Meaning of “poor in the Spirit”
The poor in spirit are those people who come to God out of a need for him to give them what they need for life.
Mat 5:3 (Msg) “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
What being “poor in the Spirit” is NOT:

• financial poverty
• biblical illiteracy. (Knowing the Bible does not necessary make one mature)
• thinking poorly of yourself.

What being “poor in the Spirit” is:

• A realization of spiritual bankrupt - we cannot save ourselves before God.  It requires that we die to self through brokenness, humility and total dependence upon God.
• Rom 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
• Example: Parable of the Prodigal Son-Luke 15:11-32
• Younger son – Came to his senses (15:17)
• Realization of being bankrupt before His father –
• I am no longer worthy to be called your son (15:19)
• Older son – was angry at His brother’s return; angry at His father’s generosity.
• Self-righteous – refused to go in (and join the feast) (15: 28).

Reward: Entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven

• The Kingdom of God is described in Matthew 13.
• The ability to understand and obey the Bible.
• Reservation for heaven and preservation from God’s wrath.
• Heavenly perspective of the world.
• Wisdom
• Discernment
• The power to transform a society.

People want the kingdom of God plus other stuff. It is the other stuff that gets preeminence. You aren’t going to experience the kingdom of heaven surrounded by worldly comforts and escapes. It takes a very disciplined person to be surrounded by toys and pleasures who can still take every problem to God in prayer. Stress and challenge should drive people to God, but if they have things to give comfort, they will turn to them - Gordon Fee.