Sermon OTM Matthew 5:3 – 11/03/2024

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord and join us here today.
In truth, Lord, most of us are worried over something
We are afraid and it has us all tied up
And it is so common a thing
We act like this is our lot in life
Like this is just how life goes
We are concerned about the election
All of its vitriol
All of its deception
All of it ugly meanness and the aftermath and the fights to come
and the impact of the next administration
We are concerned about money and bills
About children and grandchildren
About demands we might not be able to meet
About expectations we may not be able to fulfill
About choices we make
And choices others make and how they will work out
Or not work out
We are concerned for our health
And the health of others in our lives
And treatments and procedures
And pain
And life and death
And how will we ever make it through
And how will we possibly manage after
We are concerned that we will be found out
That our secrets will be divulged
Our inner lives revealed
That our reputations will be ruined
That our hearts will be laid bare
That we will lose our friends
That we will be abandoned and alone
In our worry In our fear
We look to ourselves
We become our own focus
We get a little lost
So this morning we turn again to you
Anxious and expectant
That we can keep calm
Because all things are in your hands
Because all things will refine us
Because all things are perfectly perfect
Just as they are in this moment
And we turn to you
Anxious and expectant
Ready to carry on
Because you call us to you
Because we are partnered with you
Because you have given us others to love
Because you lead the way
We turn to you Wanting to ease our worries,
Our concerns
Our fears
Knowing all along
The path to peace is loving
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

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

Intro: Recently, I came across an interesting ad:

The caption said, “Free AI Sermon Generator”
“Free AI sermon outlines help you preach a confident, creative message. AI sermon starter ideas make your sermon fresh and relevant.”
– I realized, from now on my life could be easy; for example,
• last week I mentioned my frustration with “kingdom” (bringing to mind the idea of a nation with borders)
• more than one person recommended that we talk about the “realm of God”
– when I searched for a definition of realm online,
• an AI response automatically popped up, with a list, included:
A realm is a domain or area of activity, interest, or influence.
It can refer to a kingdom or territory ruled by a monarch.
Philosophically, it can be a specific sphere of existence or reality.
Realm can also imply a level of consciousness or a state of being.
• so, for now, Jesus is going to walk us into the “realm of heaven”

Of the four gospels, only Matthew uses “kingdom of heaven” rather than “kingdom of God“
– there’s no difference, except where the emphasis is placed
Amy-Jill Levine, “. . . Matthew is setting up a contrast between heaven and earth: heaven is where God’s will is done; heaven is where God rules rather than where the ‘kings of the earth’ . . . hold sway. Heaven is a different place, a better place, a real place, a place where God rules and life is as God wants rather than as humanity has constructed.”
• Jesus’ Sermon illuminates the realm of heaven and its here, now reality
• we enter the Sermon through the Beatitudes
– my Mom once explained, “They are not the ‘Do’-attitudes, but the ‘Be’-attitudes
• despite Mom’s wisdom, Jesus isn’t teaching attitudes here
◦ he’s not laying out rules, and he’s not handing out blessings
• so what is Jesus doing in the Beatitudes?

Matthew’s synopsis of Jesus message when he first began preaching was:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 4:17)
– “repent” means “change” and especially a change of mind
• this includes our perspective, perceptions, thoughts, motives–and all the rest of it
◦ as we change, we become “a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17) our new self (Ep. 4:24)
• that’s what Jesus is doing in us with the Beatitudes and his entire Sermon
◦ he is preparing us to receive our full citizenship in the realm of God
– Jesus is changing us, and he is doing this from the inside out

If the Beatitudes are not Do-attitudes, what are they?

To learn the answer, there’s a mess that must be cleaned up first
– in the Hebrew Scriptures, two words are translated “blessed”
• these words have two different meanings
1. one of the words refers to blessings given by God and others
• for instance, fathers to sons, priests to people, one person to another (cf. Ruth 2:4)
◦ to pronounce a blessing is to give a gift from one’s soul
◦ when in the Psalms, people bless God, they give him praise (Ps. 103:1)

(One of the most common ways that Hebrew prayers begin is,
“Baruch hashem Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha’Olam“
“Praise to the Lord God, the Ruler of the universe”)

• God blesses people by showing them his favor, doing good
◦ Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 contain lists of this type of blessing,
which generally consist of fertility, health, prosperity, success in war, and shalom
Jonathan Pennington points out that the opposite of “to bless” (baruch) is “to curse”
• we tend to associate these blessings with emotional responses
Happy are the people whose God is the LORD (Ps. 144:15)
◦ when we hear someone say, “I was so blessed,” they are usually referring to the joy they felt
2. the other Hebrew word refers to a state of being: esher
Blessed [esher] is the one
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked (Ps. 1:1)
• the esher blessing is not a gift and it doesn’t involve a transaction
Pennington says it is “a certain way of being in the world”
◦ a way that pleases God
Pennington: the opposite of “be blessed” (esher) is “woe” (Lk. 6:20-26; Mt. 23)
• the New Testament continues to make same distinction as the two Hebrew words
◦ and, unfortunately, translates both words as “blessed”
• the word Jesus uses here in the Beatitudes is makarios, and it describes a state of being in God’s will
◦ so in the Beatitudes, Jesus was not pronouncing blessings on people
◦ he was saying these are already in a blessed state
– we do not have an English word that matches the meaning of makarios
• we could say something like, “a fortunate situation is theirs . . . .”
• Jesus isn’t pronouncing blessings on people who have these traits
◦ he’s saying they’re fortunate because they’re already on the right path

A philosophical quest began hundreds of years before Jesus

Socrates asked, “What was the best life that a human could live?”
– a century after Jesus, the quest was taken up by Cicero, who asked, what is the summum bonum
(“the greatest good” that people could reach in their lives)
• his answer included a life of virtue, wisdom, moderation, and courage
◦ the Beatitudes are Jesus’ answer to that question
• only, unlike the virtues of Greek and Roman philosophers,
◦ the Beatitudes are not accomplishments
– Jesus is not saying the poor in spirit pursued poverty of spirit, and so were blessed
• instead, he was saying, if for God’s sake you find yourself in this unpleasant condition,
◦ you’ve stumbled onto the right path
• let’s take a closer look at this

There are two parts to each Beatitude

I know that observation is obvious, but it’s important to keep it in mind
– in the first line of each Beatitude, Jesus declares a person to be in a fortunate state
• because they exhibit a certain trait, or they’re in a certain situation,
◦ or practice a specific behavior toward others or God,
◦ or they are persecuted for righteousness sake
• but each first line comes like a slap in the face
◦ it doesn’t make sense – it’s a contradiction (how are those who mourn, blessed?)
◦ in that culture, humility was a liability, a disgrace
• so the first line contradicts the values of the corrupt world and turns secular virtues on their head
◦ it doesn’t seem like Jesus is describing a blessing, but a hardship, a need, a disadvantage
◦ these are things that people of the world seek to avoid
– the second line of each Beatitude reveals why the first line is a qualifier for blessed state
• and it is linked to the summum bonum, or what Jesus called the “abundant life”
– notice that the list of the Beatitudes begins and ends with the kingdom (or realm) of heaven
• in between the first and last Beatitude, the blessed state includes comfort, an inheritance, mercy, and so on
◦ each of these verses look to the future, “shall be”
◦ but the two verses that end with the kingdom of heaven are present tense, “theirs is”
• Jesus wants to make us aware of God’s realm,
◦ then to value it, and then to seek it
◦ when we’re cut-off from the world and its vision of “good life,” we’re closer to the heavenly realm

I think we’re ready now to cross the threshold

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
– poor in spirit can be anything that breaks a person, that puts them at a disadvantage
• it could be material (Luke gives the bare version of the first Beatitude, “Blessed are you who are poor” )
◦ or it could physical, or psychological – I can imagine something like a mood disorder
◦ anxiety, depression, or bi-polar disorders
Pennington, “‘Poor in spirit’ may seem like a positive Christian virtue, but in an ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman setting of honor and shame, the poor in spirit are in low places in society . . . .”
– there was only one other kind of person of whom Jesus said something like,
“theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
• those were the children parents brought to him for his blessing
“to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 19:14)
◦ the poor in spirit are often reduced to the status of a child
• I think we hear echoes of the prophet Isaiah
“For the says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy;
I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isa. 57:15)

To suffer hardships and setbacks and unhappiness in the world,
– does not deprive us of the experience and enjoyment of God’s realm
John Calvin, “The disciples of Christ must learn the philosophy of placing their happiness beyond the world, and above the afflictions of the flesh.”

Conclusion: I can imagine people in the crowd, listening to Jesus

When they hear him say, “poor in spirit,” they look down
– they try to make themselves small, so no one notices them
• they don’t want to be exposed for what they are; that is poor in spirit
• but then they hear Jesus say, the realm of heaven is theirs
◦ not only in some distant future across the galaxies,
◦ but here – now – with Jesus on the Mountain

Jesus shows us ourselves through his eyes –
A perspective that is hopeful and positive
He opens our eyes to the realm of God – and invites us in
We find that even though we do not experience its fullness
it is here already, transforming our liabilities into assets