2020 Lessons
Lessons from 30 AD for 2020/21 AD : Matt 5:3-12
We are going to look at a familiar passage today in light of our past year. We have learned much this year, but we have also been reminded of timeless lessons recorded long ago. Mrs. Powell mentioned the Beatitudes as the lessons we learned this year, and I agreed she was on to something. So, for today, let’s return to the familiar lessons Jesus gave us and see how they have unfolded before our eyes this past year. And hopefully, we will learn those lessons to be ready for what is to come in 2021.
Now, before we read our passage, I must pause for a moment and explain, these are not a new set of instructions or how-to’s. We will return to this point throughout the message, but I should point out many Christians (and many theologians) have misunderstood what Jesus is teaching here. It is not a list of moral qualifications for the Kingdom of Heaven. If that were true, then Jesus’ Resurrection would be unnecessary. If we were able to simply make our attitudes and economic conditions match this supposed set of criteria, then Jesus’ sacrifice would have no need. No, we absolutely need the salvation Jesus brought with Him and achieved through the cross and Resurrection. The main point of the Beatitudes is this:
The Kingdom of Heaven has been opened for all, even those who have traditionally been left out of religious circles.
Now, unfortunately it would take a whole other sermon to unpack that statement, but hopefully as we progress it will be made clearer. But, let’s begin reading, not a list of to-do’s but rather the Good News, the Kingdom of Heaven is freely available to the those who will seek it.
Matthew 5:3-12
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
The modern understanding of being ‘poor in spirit’ has come to be a bit different than what it meant in that first century, mainly because of the popularity of this Beatitude. To be ‘poor in spirit’ is not just to be ‘humble’, but for Jesus’ hearers, it was to be one “without a wisp of religion” (Willard 100). For the first century Jews, there were the religious leaders and there was everyone else—and it was well-known the religious leaders were the ones closest to the Kingdom of Heaven. And yet, Jesus says, “Blessed are the [laymen, the deprived and deficient, the spiritual beggars]”, because they are the ones who will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
This year we have been reminded even our highest religious leaders, the great theologians, the denominational leaders, the gurus, and even the pastor holds the market on heavenly knowledge or access to heaven. God is far less concerned with our titles than He is our humility and walk with Him. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, I was amazed at the sheer lack of understanding for the next steps for churches. The responses from religious leaders spanned the gamut from absolute panic to absolute denial, and everywhere in between. When I asked five pastors their plans, I received ten different ideas.
And then, as the year progressed, I watched as God worked wonders among His people. It was not the high and mighty in charge that kept the Kingdom of Heaven marching, it was God working through the ‘poor in spirit’. I watched as those without “the expertise” took the lead in continuing services, continuing ministry, and working out solutions to problems our esteemed leaders didn’t know we even had. We were reminded that sometimes a thorough knowledge in “the ways things ought to be” can be a great hindrance. That was the problem of the Pharisees. They knew the way things ought to be, but they missed out when Jesus explained the way things are.
The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those willing to see it for what it is, not for what they think it should be.
And the fact is, the Kingdom of Heaven is open to the highest and the lowest, the brave and the coward, the rich and the poor, but it is only those who humble themselves and rid their false ideas of what it means to be ‘great’ that will receive it. The poor in spirit are blessed, because they recognize their need for Heaven—they recognize their need for Jesus. Keep in mind, again, Jesus is right there teaching these words. He is opening their minds to the understanding their religious leaders can’t save them, because they need salvation also. It is only through Christ we are saved, and it is only through Christ that we can say we thrived through this year!
Chilhowee Baptist Church did not come this far this year because of how great we are. We came this far, because of how great Jesus is! It is by His grace we have come to where we are, and it will be by His grace that we grow and thrive in 2021!
Blessed are those who mourn
We typically associate mourning with death, but consider the number of things to break a heart in this world. This last year many lost jobs, lost family, lost their mobility, lost connection with family and friends, and many lost a bit of their sanity from the constant strain of stress. For too many it has been a mournful year. Could we really say such people are ‘blessed’? In fact, Jesus says ‘Yes!’, they are blessed because they shall be comforted. How? When? When the Kingdom of Heaven comes upon them!
Consider the story of Job who lost everything, for no reason that he could see. It is a story of perseverance, but at the climax of that story, when he has lost all hope and asks God why this calamity has come upon him, God answers it is not for Job to know everything God is doing. Job is reminded of the greatness, the majesty, and the glory of his Creator. And when Job gets a greater glimpse of God, he takes back his questions and gives God all the glory. And we know that Job is given much more in the latter part of his life than he had when tragedy struck.
The lesson of Job is the same lesson James would write in his letter when he told his readers to “Rejoice when various trials come upon you.” Those trials would cause stress, but they would also bring about a greater faith. It is the same lesson of the refining fire in 1 Peter 1. We rejoice in trials, and we can rejoice in our mourning, because it is in our mourning we recognize our failings and limitations. It is when our heart is broken that we are ready to receive the comfort God has been trying to give us.
When we are broken-hearted, we are not abandoned by God, but rather the Kingdom of Heaven is within our reach.
Jesus comes to the broken hearted, bringing a renewed faith, a stronger disposition, and most of all, the comfort we desperately need.
This year many have lamented their loss of “normal”—whether sporting matches, mobility, or just the general way of operating daily life. Some things are worse than others, and it is not my place to determine someone’s degree of heartache, but I will say this. For many years, Christians have prayed for God to remove the idols of the Church and set our hearts to reaching the lost. This year, many Christians have lost those idols.
Blessed are the workaholics, for they received time with their families.
Blessed are the sportaholics, for they received time to worship.
Blessed are the busy-bodies, for they received time to refocus themselves.
Blessed are the stressed-out, the overburdened, and the burned out, for they have received rest.
And I praise God for blessing the doubters in the Church, for they have received time to be faithful in their doubts and see their faith grow. We had a saying in my Art room, “Broken crayons still color.” Blessed are the broken crayons in our life, because God will use them to make a masterpiece.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
Blessed are those who want to see things set right—those who have been wronged, those who discover the wrong in themselves, and those who fall victim to the “powers that be”, for justice will be satisfied. This year we may have seen injustices set right, or injustices continued, it just depends on your perspective of things. But the fact of the matter is God will set things right based on His Goodness, not our personal expectations.
We have lived this year in a very gray area. The Bible sets our standards for how to worship, how to disciple, how to reach the lost, and how to fellowship, but what many have discovered this year is those standards are general principles, not the checklist we have developed from our traditions.
Righteousness comes from Christ, not our traditions and standards.
Blessed are those whose traditions have been torn down, for they have found renewed access to God’s love, mercy, and righteousness.
Blessed are the merciful
Common knowledge says we should not be merciful, because if we are too merciful, we will be taken advantage of. “People should take care of themselves.” Perhaps there is some worldly truth in that, and yet in the Kingdom of Heaven, those who show mercy are blessed. This particular beatitude is one of the most revealing for the individual. How much mercy someone is willing to extend says much about their theology and heart. And, the more we understand of the mercy God demonstrated for us on the cross of Calvary, the more mercy we are willing to extend to others.
Consider another story of Jesus. In Matthew 18, Jesus tells the story of a ruler who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. When the ruler came to one such servant who owed 10,000 talents, the servant could not pay. The ruler ordered the servant be sold along with the servant’s family to cover the payment. The servant pleaded for mercy and time to pay. The master released the servant out of pity and forgave the debt. Then, the servant went out and found a fellow servant who owed him 100 denarii. The fellow couldn’t pay the debt, so the servant ridiculed and choked the fellow, but the fellow could only plead for mercy. Instead of mercy, the servant sent the fellow to prison until he could pay the debt. Well, when the other servants saw what happened, they went to the ruler to report. The ruler summoned the servant, and said, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” Then, the ruler had the servant thrown to the jailers until he should pay all his debt.
The lesson of Jesus’ parable is the same lesson here. Blessed are the merciful, because they will receive mercy.
The Kingdom of Heaven has been made available, along with all its mercy.
And the more we recognize the mercy God shed on us, the more we are willing to show mercy to those who have wronged us.
Blessed are the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the faithful
I have put the last three together, not just for the sake of time, but also for the sake of the connection to each other. To explain, let’s look at the second one first.
Blessed is the one who seeks peace, because he will be called a son of God.
Consider the position of the person who seeks peace between warring parties. This unfortunate soul is caught between two parties, and both parties being made of humans, is faulty in some capacity. Neither side is truly ‘right’ in the sense of ‘perfect’. But, this person has the desire to seek peace—to end the conflict. Now, we know that both parties will look at the peacemaker with derision and mistrust. How can they trust the peacemaker when he sides with them?!? In this world, peacemakers will ultimately find themselves a friend of few rather than a friend to many. And yet, Jesus says they are blessed. They are blessed because they have joined the mission of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus brought the Kingdom of Heaven in order to bring peace, thus the peacemaker shares the mission of Heaven.
Now, if the peacemaker is blessed to be on the side of Heaven, let us look at who the pure in heart truly is. Who can say their heart is pure? Whose heart is not shaded by bias, self-serving motives, or pride? Dallas Willard interprets this phrase to be those who seek perfection, the perfectionist. I fail to understand how he came upon that interpretation, but his point is similar to our response to this question. There are those who recognize the impurities in their heart, and there are those who believe their heart is better than the rest. In either case, the Kingdom of Heaven is available to them, and they can “see God” who will reveal what purity truly looks like. The Kingdom of Heaven is available to the peacemaker caught between two parties who may believe their hearts are pure, but when the Kingdom of Heaven comes to them, they will truly see what is right, good, and pure.
Those who fight over what is the “right way” to do something are blessed, and this year has shown their blessing. God has disrupted our “right ways”, clearing out the fog of war in our tribal conflicts. We are blessed to be in a position where “the way we’ve always done it” is no longer available to us. Now we must seek God and the way He wants it done.
And that brings us to the last blessing. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the cause of Christ.
Traditionally we think of persecutions as coming from outside the Church, but this year we have seen Christians arguing with Christians over matters of practice. For those of you who have sought peace, you are blessed. It may not feel like it always, but the fact is God has blessed, and will continue to bless, those who persevere under the reviling of those who cannot see God for their opinions.
And you are likewise blessed, because you are in good company. The host of prophets in the Old Testament all stand with you. Every prophet who tried to call his people back to God’s ways and God’s standards was ridiculed, maligned, and persecuted for doing so.
The faithful Christian does not seek persecution, but it happens in this life.
Blessed are those with an unrelenting pursuit of God because God will make Himself seen.
As we close, I want to restate these are not new laws to obey but rather truths to understand. The Kingdom of Heaven has come to this world. Joy to the world the Lord has come! And with the Lord comes His Kingdom and His righteousness. And it is a kingdom and righteousness that is not of this world. But the Good News is this Kingdom is freely available, even to those who think they should be left out.
Today, if you have not experienced the Kingdom of Heaven, know that Christ has come, and He calls you to turn away from the old way of thinking—that old way that says only the rich are blessed, or the intelligent, the charismatic, the ones who ‘have it all together’. No, blessed are you because Christ died for you! And whosoever will call on His name will be saved, and their hearts will truly be made pure so that they shall see God.