Title: "When Poverty is Preferred"
Text: Matthew 5:1-3
Open:
"The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly is the least obeyed" (John R. W. Stott). It is the nearest thing to a manifesto that Jesus ever uttered, for it is his own description of what he wanted his followers to be and do. The Sermon is well known to Christians today, but few appreciate the richness of these sayings, and Christ's radical demands and promises have been blunted through either familiarity or contempt.
There are actually two versions of this Sermon in the New Testament: the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:3--7:27) which contains 106 verses, and the Sermon on the Plain (Lk 6:20-49) which contains 29 verses. The term "the Sermon on the Mount" goes back to the title St. Augustine gave to his commentary on Matthew 5-7, written between 392 and 396 AD.
The Sermon has never been more relevant than it is today because it depicts the behavior that Jesus expects of each of his disciples. This is not some theoretical treatise on the Jewish Law; this is an exposition of the Jesus way. For that reason, I have entitled this series of messages "Living the Jesus Way: Lessons from the Sermon on the Mount." Here we have a comprehensive and cohesive catalogue of the Jesus life. We see Jesus as he is and as he expects us to be. We see him as he is in his heart, his motives, his thoughts, in the secret place with the Father. We also see him in the arena of his public life, in his relations with his fellow men, showing mercy, making peace, being persecuted, acting like salt, illuminating the darkness around him, loving and serving his enemies.
The following is a simple breakdown of the Sermon:
A Christian's character (5:3-12)
A Christian's influence (5:13-16)
A Christian's righteousness (5:17-48)
A Christian's piety (6:1-18)
A Christian's ambition (6:19-34)
A Christian's relationships (7:1-20)
A Christian's commitment (7:21-27)
I. The Beatitudes
Everybody who has heard of Jesus Christ and knows anything about his teaching, is familiar with the beatitudes with which the Sermon begins. Before we are ready to consider each beatitude separately, there are three general questions about them which needs to be asked, concerning the people described, the qualities commended, and the blessings promised.
1. The people described -- the beatitudes set forth the balanced character of Christian people.
- These are not eight separate and distinct groups of disciples, some of whom are meek, while others are merciful, etc. They are, rather, eight qualities of the same group (who are at one and the same time meek and merciful, poor in spirit and pure in heart, mourning and hungry, peacemakers and persecuted.
- This is not an elitist group. The beatitudes are Christ's own expectation of what every Christian ought to be. In other words, all of these qualities are to characterize all his followers.
2. The qualities commended.
- The poverty and hunger to which Jesus refers in the beatitudes are spiritual states.
3. The blessings promised.
- The Greek word (makarios) can and does mean 'happy', but to render it as such makes it a subjective state. Instead, Jesus is making an objective judgment about these people. He is declaring not what they may feel like ('happy'), but what God thinks of them. The form is almost exclamatory: "O the blessedness of those who ..."
- Are these blessings present or future? The answer I would give is 'yes.'
II. The Poor in Spirit.
1. The meaning of 'poor.'
- The word translated 'poor' (ptochos) is a verb that signifies cringing, couching like a beggar. It is stronger than 'poor.' It is cringingly, beggarly poor.
- This is to be beggarly poor with respect to the spirit.
- This is the attitude that grows out of a profound realization of utter helplessness.
- These wretched beggars bring absolutely nothing to God but their complete emptiness and stoop in the dust for pure grace and mercy only.
- This is the condition and attitude of true repentance preached by John the Baptist and by Jesus as basic for all who would come to God and to his kingdom.
2. The astonishing thing about this declaration.
- The astonishing thing is that Jesus would pronounce people such as this "blessed", fortunate in the highest degree."
Close:
If we would follow Jesus, we must live according to his ways. Following Jesus is extremely practical, and the Sermon on the Mount describes the expected behavior of individual disciples. Living the Jesus way means to live like Jesus lived. The first step toward making this an automatic part of who we are is to acknowledge our desperate state without him.
No comments:
Post a Comment