The Beatitudes: The Character of Kingdom Citizens

Matthew 5, 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This is the introduction to the Beatitudes that we are going to be reading today

in Matthew 5, verses 3 through 10. We're going to go line by line through each of these verses,

but to give you some context, Matthew is one of the four gospels, and the gospels are the

account of Jesus' life, what he did, who he was, and that is how we can read about the life of

Jesus. And so if you don't understand the gospels, if you've never read through the gospels,

I would highly encourage you to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And the gospel is the good

news. And so this is all about the life of Jesus, who Jesus was, what Jesus did, and why it

matters for you and me today. These Beatitudes are so countercultural, and you will see that as we

read each one, you're like, ooh, that is different than my natural sinful nature, or ooh, that is

different than the messaging and the actions of the world today. And I love the Beatitudes so much,

and that they're called the Beatitudes and not the do attitudes. We live in a time and in a culture

where everyone focuses on what we produce and on what we do when Jesus makes it so clear that

it's all about the heart and who we are. It always stems from who we are, and then from there,

that is how we go and we do. And so we're going to start in verse 3, which says,

blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Poor in spirit. When I heard

that at first, I was like, okay, so Jesus, the Lord just wants me to be poor. That's not what it's

saying. It is speaking to having a posture of, I can do nothing apart from him. I am so dependent

upon God. There is no righteousness in me. There is no strength or sufficiency in me. I have nothing

apart from him. And we have to start with that posture because we cannot accept Jesus as Savior,

we cannot accept Jesus as Lord until we have a posture of, I know I need saving until we have

an understanding that we need to be saved. And so blessed are the poor in spirit is the person

who knows I need to be saved because I am messy on my own and I am nothing apart from him. This

is a deep desperation and dependence upon the Lord and the promises for theirs is the kingdom of

heaven. Verse 4 says, blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Again, if you're not

researching this or studying this or doing a deep dive, you will read this and be like, so the

Lord just wants me to cry all the time. That's not what he's saying. Blessed are those who mourn for

they will be comforted. You can interpret that as this word mourn is actually the most intense

description of mourning in scripture. And it's as if you're talking about mourning the dead and

it's having this understanding that I mourn over what breaks God's heart. I mourn and I have a

deep hurt over what keeps me separated from God over the sin that I commit or that other people

commit that would separate them from God. This is a posture of taking sin seriously. You don't

overlook sin. You don't dismiss sin. You don't treat sin with casualty. You have a deep

mourning in your spirit, a deep grieving in your spirit. It talks about this actually in 2 Corinthians

710 that godly sorrow leads to repentance. That leads to salvation. But worldly sorrow leads to death.

And you'll know that that anytime you sin against God and you feel that worldly sorrow,

it'll bring shame. It'll bring separation from God. But anytime you sin against God and you feel

that conviction from the Holy Spirit, it'll actually bring you closer to God. You'll hit your

knees and you'll repent and you'll mourn over the sin you committed against God. And it says,

they will be comforted. The Holy Spirit is our comforter. Verse 5, blessed are the meek for they

will inherit the earth. I love this word meek because for the longest time I thought that just meant

I was supposed to be passive or I had no voice. But actually what meek means is strength under

control. So I want you to think of a stallion that is so strong and has so much power. But yet it

has control. Yet it's running. It's race well. And that's what meekness is. You have strength,

but it's laced in self discipline and self control. And the first two be attitudes are focusing on

and this third one deals with how it relates to other people. Do you have a meekness towards

others? Do you show strength under control with other people? You know, we can only be meek,

controlling our desire for our rights and privileges because we are confident that our God watches

us and he will protect us and he goes before us. And the promise is we will inherit the earth.

Verse 6 says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.

This is one of my favorite verses in the be attitudes because we know what it's like when we

get hungry. I mean, I am the definition of the Snickers commercial when I get hungry. I am not me

when I'm hungry. And all throughout scripture and throughout the gospels in the gospel of John,

Jesus even refers to Himself as the bread of life in John chapter 6. He also refers to Himself

in John chapter 4 as the living water. And so what does it look like to hunger and thirst for

righteousness? It looks like to run to Jesus for everything, for comfort, for security, for

satisfaction, for joy, for peace, for love, and to be fully filled in Him, not looking to other

things, not looking to other people to fill what only God can. I also love that He is our daily

bread. That's in the Lord's Prayer. Lord, you are my daily bread and just reminding yourself,

He alone is where true joy, peace, and freedom is found. And we think about our body is hungry to

be filled with food, but I want you to think about your soul and your spirit is hungry even more

to be satisfied and filled. And so what are you running to? What are you looking to to find

satisfaction and filling? Because He is the only one that can keep our spirit and our soul

fully alive. And then verse 7 says, Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. A

merciful person is someone who knows they have been forgiven. They have been redeemed, that they

have received mercy from God. Therefore, they have a lot of mercy to give other people. Something

that has really helped me in this is knowing to much has given much more is required. I have been

freely forgiven. Therefore, I am called to be forgiving to other people. I have received

God's mercy and I didn't deserve it. Therefore, I am called to give mercy to other people,

even when they don't deserve it. And something practically that's really helped me is memorizing

scripture. I remember I was memorizing James 1 and it talks about being slow to anger and slow

to speak and quick to listen. And that's just one way I've been trying to exercise. What does it

look like to be merciful to other people is just being clothed in this humility, clothed in this

compassion, clothed in just this like, I don't know, just you're not wanting to give them what they

deserve or be the center of attention, but having this understanding of I'm going to respond and

not react. Verse 8 says, Blessed are the pure and heart for they will see God. I love this verse

so much. This has been one of my most quoted verses that I've that I've ever spoken because

there's something that Jesus is trying to address here. He says, Blessed are the pure and heart,

not the pure and body. He's saying, Hey, it's not just about what you look like to other people.

It's about what's on the inside. It talks about in the Old Testament. The Lord says, No, no,

I don't see his man sees. I look at the heart. The Lord cares about our heart. That means we can be

doing all of the right things, all of all of a bunch of God things, a bunch of good things. And if

it's not done with the right heart posture, then it's done in vain. And so we have to have a pure

heart. I love that Jesus is addressing this because he's speaking to a crowd of people who have

seen it exercised by a bunch of Pharisees and teachers of scripture that they put so much

emphasis on what we do outwardly and on what other people see. And they did it all for the

praise of people. And yet their heart was wicked. Yet their heart was far from God. And my hope and

prayer is that our heart is a undivided devotion to the Lord that we are doing everything with

pure motive and to please God, not to please people, not to be seen and praised by people,

but to just love God. And that that is the overflow of how we live our life. And I love that the

promises that we will see God, that we get to see him. And I know I want to see him. And so I

pray that purity over all of us. Verse 9 says, Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called

children of God. And I view this as, you know, he is known as the Prince of Peace throughout

scripture. And so if we are his sons and daughters, then we are called to show that and carry that

and give that and be that to other people. We should be carrying the peace of God in every room

we walk in. We should be exercising peace in every relationship that we have, which means

that we come against a spirit of division and comparison and competition and gossip. And those

things can so easily creep into our lives and into our relationships. But a peacemaker is one who

says, No, no, I'm not going to stand for that. I'm not going to entertain gossiping conversations.

I'm not going to entertain comparison thoughts because I'm called to pursue peace and to keep the

unity and to walk in love. And that's what peacemakers do. And that's how you know that they are children

of God. And then verse 10 says, Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for

theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This just shows that if we follow Jesus, there will be persecution.

There will be seasons of suffering. And where you can find comfort is knowing that even Jesus

himself was known as the man of suffering, the son of suffering, the man of sorrows. But the

promise at the end is for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And what I love about this is a reminder

that this is not our home, but heaven is our home. And yes, he was the son of suffering on this

earth. But now he reigns and he has all authority and power in dominion. And he is the name above

every name. And we get to rest knowing that even though we might go through a lot of hardship here

and there will be suffering and there will be trouble, Jesus says, take heart. I have overcome

the world. And we get to know that he is where our hope is. He is where our peace is. He is where

our security is. I want to encourage you guys, even if you're going through a really hard season,

just remember that heaven is our home. And you can rejoice and be glad knowing that you will have

a reward and a reward that will never perish or fade. But one that lasts forever. If you will

just join me in prayer or we are so thankful that you have shown us the way and all of this of how

we can be pure, of how we can walk and righteousness, of how we can be a peacemaker, of how we can

be set apart in our speech and our love and our faith and our conduct and our fear and our

purity, how our life can truly look so different than the rest of this world. You have shown us

the way. And I just pray each of these over my friends. I pray that they would be poor and spirit,

Lord, that each of us would be so desperate and dependent upon you knowing we can do nothing

without you, that we are nothing without you, but with you we can bear fruit, fruit that will last.

I pray for my friends that we would mourn in our heart and that you would be our great comforter.

Thank you, Lord, that you are our great comforter, no matter what we're facing, no matter what we're

feeling, that you comfort our soul. And I pray that we would take sin seriously, that we wouldn't treat

it casually or overlook it or dismiss it and treat it as not a big deal for that is the lie of

the enemy who comes to steal, kill and destroy. But Lord, your way is the way of truth and purity

and love and holiness and your way is what leads to life. And so I pray that we would mourn of our

sin and the sin of our world and repent over the sin of our world and that we would walk Lord

in that posture of resisting the sin of the world. I pray a meekness over my friends, Lord,

that they would be meek in heart, meek in spirit, that they would resist Lord the temptation or the

lust, Lord, for power, control and wanting to be known and important and praised and seen by

others. Lord, I pray just this strength under control, this humility, this quiet confidence,

Lord, that would mark their life. That would show that they care more about pleasing you than

pleasing others. And I pray that they would serve others well. I pray for them to be hungry and

thirsty for righteousness. Lord, more than they hunger and thirst for anything else. Lord,

that their soul would yearn for you long for you and thirst for you and that you would fill them

with more of you. Right now, I pray that there would be an emptying of themselves that as they

take this moment that they would literally see themselves taking their cup of whatever they've

been filling that cup with and that they would be into empty it and that you would begin to overflow

it and fill it with more of you, more of you, more of you. For that is where true satisfaction

is found. Lord, I pray that they would be merciful, Lord, in the same way you've given us mercy

and forgiveness, that we would give others mercy and forgiveness even when they don't deserve it.

And Lord, that you would help us do that when it's really hard to do that. I pray purity over

their heart, Lord, that they would be pure in heart, that their motives, their affections,

their, the things that they're drawn to and attracted to, that where they spend their time,

their talents, their treasures, Lord, all of it, Lord, would just be with a heart of holiness

and purity, Lord, for the promises we will see when we want to see you. And so, Lord, I just

pray purity over their heart that you would forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness

and that you would reveal to us anything, Lord, that has been sitting on the idol of our heart

that has kept us from walking in the way of purity and holiness. You would forgive us, Lord.

And I pray that they would be peacemakers, Lord, that we would all walk in the way of peace and love

and that we would seek unity and that we would not bring division, that we would not bring

separation, but Lord in the same way that you are united as the Trinity God, the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit. May we be united, not only with you, but with other believers.

I pray, Lord, that even if they're going through a hard season and they feel persecuted because

of following you, I pray that they would cling to the hope that you are the reward and that heaven

is our home and that we are just pilgrims passing through. Remind us right now of how to number

our days and remember, Lord, that we are not here forever, but that how we practice here will

determine where we spend forever. And so, Lord, help us to have eyes on eternity. We give you this

day. We thank you, Jesus, for who you are, for what you've done. And may we stay true today

to your truth and to what pleases you. In Jesus' name, amen.