BLESSED

2020 November 01 Sermon “BLESSED”

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Psalm 34:1-10, 22

I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.

O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor soul cried, and was heard by the LORD, and was saved from every trouble.

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

O taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.

O fear the LORD, you his holy ones, for those who fear him have no want.

The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Matthew 4:2-5:12

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every- sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

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

• “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

• “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

• “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

• “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

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

• “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

• “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

• “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Sermon on Matthew 4:23-5:12

“BLESSED”

In Matthews gospel, Jesus has just recruited his first four disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John. He then went with those four men throughout all of Galilee District. He was teaching the people in the synagogues where Jews worship God. He was preaching the good message of how to become members of the kingdom God, where God, in love, rules over the lives of people who follow His commands.

Although he was training people what it meant to live a life in God’s kingdom, he was also teaching how to live in love with one another. He demonstrated that, though his main message was to prepare for the coming kingdom, he was also concerned about their earthly life as well.

So he was also healing all the Galileans who had diseases or who were sick or injured.

Quickly people who lived in other parts of the Syria District heard what he was doing with these miraculous healings. Friends and families brought to him people who suffered from illnesses, people who suffered from many kinds of diseases, people who suffered from severe pains, people who were controlled by demons, people who were epileptics, and people who were paralyzed. And Jesus healed them all.

Then crowds started to go with him wherever he went. Imagine that sight as formerly blind, lame, deaf and mute people followed him to the synagogues on the day of worship.

Can you see the disturbance that would bring to the order of worship? If through your worship center doors a wandering preacher, teacher, healer came with a crowd shoving in behind, how would the congregation act? How would you react?

Would people be filled with joy because so many came to join in worship? Would people be upset because this crowd of strangers had invaded their sanctuary?

Would the preacher quietly step aside to hear the message of this stranger? Would he be recognized as the Son of the most high God or labeled a cult leader?

There were people from the District of Galilee and people from the Ten Towns area, from Jerusalem city, from other parts of the Judea district, and from areas east of the Jordan River.

I can’t help but think of the Neal Diamond song :

“It’s love, Brother Love say

Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show

Pack up the babies

And grab the old ladies

And everyone goes

‘Cause everyone knows

‘Bout Brother Love’s show

Hallelujah, brothers

Halle-hallelujah

I said brothers

(Hallelujah) Now you got yourself two good hands

(Halle-hallelujah) And when your brother is troubled,

You gotta reach out your one hand for him

(Hallelujah) ‘Cause that’s what it’s there for

(Halle-hallelujah) And when your heart is troubled,

You gotta reach out your other hand

(Hallelujah) Reach it out to the man up there

(Halle-hallelujah) ‘Cause that’s what he’s there for.”

Honestly, I can’t think of a better summery of Christ’s ministry than reaching out and reaching up connecting the human and the divine.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a hillside. I’ve heard some say that he went to a narrow place where he could distance himself from the crowd in order to begin teaching his new disciples.

I’ve heard others claim that he climbed the hill so that his voice could be projected downward, making it easier for the crowd to hear.

Both could be equally true. One does not cancel out the other. He could easily have withdrawn to speak with Andrew, Peter, James and John. His voice could still be heard down the hillside.

A French painter, James Tissot, painted Jesus’s stranding on a rocky outcropping and arms upraised. People behind him are seated while multitudes stand below. I love the grandure of the scene.

However, I’ve always imagined that, inspite of the crowd, it was a more intement setting with Christ seated with people seated along the hillside, looking for all the world like sheep dotting the landscape.

Our Scripture section reads. “He sat down in order to teach his disciples.” As I said, in Matthew’s gospel, this happens immediately after calling the first four disciples. So I can only imagine how these men we wondering and waiting to begin their training.

So when Jesus sat and began to teach, they came near to him to listen. They would have been very attentative to his words. There could be a test afterward.

Jesus’s began to teach them by saying, … but wait a minute. Y’all know he is going to be saying a lot of “Blessed is he who …” But what does that really mean to be blessed?

Definition of blessed

endowed with divine favor and protection.

“blessed are the meek”

Similar: words are:

favored

fortunate

lucky

privileged

select

happy

joyful

joyous

blissful

glad

enviable

So we could say that a blessing brings pleasure or relief as a welcome contrast to what one has previously experienced.

Okay, let’s look at the blessed ones on Jesus’s list.

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

Poor in spirit. Spiritually bankrupt. I’ve been there, as I’m sure some of you have been. So far down that you have to look up to see the bottom. For some of us, we had to reach that point before we were ready to reach out to God. I believe God is pleased with people who recognize that they have a spiritual need; when they ask, he will welcome them as His children in His kingdom.

• “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

We mourn because of loss. Things and people are lost to us in many ways: death, divorce, accidents, injuries, illnesses, relocation. We mourn the loss of a family member or friend. We mourn a severed relationship. We mourn a lost job or treasured possession. It is very hard to see a blessing here.

God is pleased with people who mourn because it is one of the most honest of emotions. When we mourn, we can open our hearts completely to God. God, in turn, will open us to grace and grant us a peace and comfort beyond human understanding and he will encourage and comfort the mourner.

• “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

We often, falsely equate meek with weak. People who are meek are gentle and other-centered as opposed to self-centered. A perfect example of meekness can be found in Matthew 5:39-42 where Jesus said, “But I tell you not to oppose an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn your other cheek to him as well. If someone wants to sue you in order to take your shirt, let him have your coat too. If someone forces you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to everyone who asks you for something. Don’t turn anyone away who wants to borrow something from you. The meek yield not out of weakness but out of strength.

• “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

I know far too many people who struggle to be right rather than righteous. I include myself amongst them. I fight to prove myself right rather than choosing to follow the path of righteousness. Being righteous means to be right with God, to submit your will to His. Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, What Would Jesus Do? Was a popular saying a while back. I endorse it — if — if you’ve spent time reading the gospels and truly sought to think like Jesus did. Then — and only then — can you seek to be righteous as he was righteous — to do what Jesus would do. God is pleased with people who sincerely desire to live righteously just like they desire to eat and drink. When you have studied to show yourself approved, as often as you have eaten a meal or a snack, then you are on the road to righteousness.

• “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Answer this honestly to yourself. Have you ever been praying the Lord’s prayer and gotten to that line that says, “forgive me my sins as I have forgiven those who sin against me” and realize that what you really want is to be completely forgiven EVEN THOUGH you have NOT forgiven others? Jesus was pretty clear on this point, that SOME forgiveness is conditional. Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you will forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father also will forgive you your offenses. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your sins.” Also in Matthew 18, a forgiven slave’s response is truly disgusting. He found a fellow slave who owed him money. He intimidated his debtor with physical violence. He was deaf to his debtor’s pleading. He unjustly misused the king’s law. He refused to forgive him the debt which, although a substantial sum, was nothing compared to the enormous debt he himself had been forgiven. And the end of the story reads, “And his lord, being angry, handed him over to the torturers, until he repaid the entire debt.” So be merciful, mercy full, so full of mercy that it splashes it on everyone you meet.

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

Pure of heart? What does that even mean? I found this on the BillyGraham.org website and it said it better than I can. “The pure in heart are the only ones who can know what it means to be supremely happy. Their hearts are pure toward God and, as a result are pure toward their fellowmen. They are happy because, in possessing Him who is All and in All, they envy no man’s worldly goods. They are happy because they envy not another man’s praise. Because they are the enemy of no man, they regard no man as their enemy. The result is peace with God and the world.”

• “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Peacemakers are those rare people who step into the storm of high and agitated emotions and calms the storm. To be a true peacemaker you must first be at peace with God. Next you must be at peace with yourself. I think of the example of the woman caught in adultery in John 8:4-11

And they said to him: “Teacher, this woman was just now caught in adultery. And in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a one. Therefore, what do you say?” But they were saying this to test him, so that they might be able to accuse him. Then Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the earth. And then, when they persevered in questioning him, he stood upright and said to them, “Let whoever is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her.” And bending down again, he wrote on the earth. But upon hearing this, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest. And Jesus alone remained, with the woman standing in front of him. Then Jesus, raising himself up, said to her: “Woman, where are those who accused you? Has no one condemned you?” And she said, “No one, Lord.” Then Jesus said: “Neither will I condemn you. Go, and now do not choose to sin anymore.”

A key to peace is finding common ground … and possibly finding the ground on which we stand isn’t so solid.

• “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

We’ve already talked about what it means to be righteous. But what if our righteousness leads to persecution, condemnation, and punishment? I think of the evangelists and missionaries who have been physically abused or killed while attempting to bring God’s Word to people who would not accept it. I’m reminded of Paul and Silas in Acts 16:22-24. “And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent their garments off them, and commanded to beat them with rods. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: who, having received such a charge, cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.”

Brothers and sister, being a Christian isn’t for sissies. This world is broken. In this world you may be punished for doing the right thing and saying the right words. But for doing so you will inherit the kingdom of heaven, which is eternity with God.

In Jesus’s sermon on the mount each of these all too common human conditions are paired with a blessing.

So when troubles come — and they will — believe that there is a blessing at the and of every hardship. Endure the temporary to gain the eternal.

Our earthly life is but a dot on our eternal life line that has no end.

Rejoice, the Lord is King,

Your Lord and King adore;

Mortals, give thanks and sing

And triumph evermore:

Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;

Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.

2

His kingdom cannot fail;

He rules o’er earth and heav’n;

The keys of death and hell

Are to our Jesus giv’n:

3

Jesus, the Savior reigns,

The God of truth and love:

When He had purged our stains

He took His seat above:

4

He sits at God’s right hand

Till all His foes submit,

And bow to His command,

And fall beneath His feet:

Amen