Preached in Markham Baptist Church, October 8, 2006

What is the best compliment a Christian can receive? I think the best compliment you can receive as a Christian is “You are not like anyone I have ever met.  There is something different about you.”  The flip side of that is the worst insult you could ever receive as a Christian is, “You are just like everyone else.” 

Have you ever seen a restaurant with a sign out the front that reads, “Under New Management”?  I’m sure you have.  It’s supposed to be a sign that indicates that things have changed in the restaurant.  There’s a new direction, new values, a whole new attitude and way of doing business and as a result we really should give it a try.

Well, when you became a Christian you came under new management.  The whole of your life is to be different.  The old owner of sin and self and Satan have been bought out by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  And you now have a new owner.  That means that your life now has a new direction, new values, a new attitude.  And as a result people should be able to say, “You are not like everyone else.”

And Jesus is telling us in the Sermon on the Mount what it means to live under His ownership, how our character is to change and how our conduct is to change.

Now Jesus first will tell us about a character change that His new ownership will bring (verses 1-12). Then in the rest of the sermon He will tell us of the change in conduct that the new ownership is to bring. 

It’s important to get the order right.  If we try to live the conduct without the character change this sermon becomes a new legalism.  But if we allow the character change to occur then the conduct will change.

This is always the order that God uses.  He always changes the character before He changes our conduct.  We Christians often try to change the conduct before we change the character and what happens to our teens especially is that they live according to our rules of conduct but as soon as they head to university, if their character has not been changed by the grace of Christ then they will live the wild life.   

We need to get the order right in our own lives – change the character then the change in conduct will come.  This is what makes Christianity so different from every other faith or philosophy.  Jesus did not come to give us a new way to act as much as He has come to invade our lives with the life of God and bring transformation from within.     

Understand that when we study these characteristics they are not what we call natural tendencies.  While we are born with certain dispositions these are attitudes that only the Spirit of God can bring to a life. These are attitudes and dispositions that only grace can produce in a life.  So this is good news – if these were simply a list of natural dispositions we would be left out in the cold so to speak – because we would not be able to attain them.  But since they are a product of grace they are within reach of everyone.

So let’s think of the character of a Christian.  Of one who has been touched by the grace of God and who has come to realize that Jesus Christ is their new owner, King and Master.  What can be said about them, about their character? 

Well, says Jesus, they are “blessed”.  From verse 3 to 11 you see that word repeated again and again.  To be blessed is to have the favour of God - it is a sense of contentment and fulfillment.  Some have translated that word to be mean “happy.”  That’s not wrong, but in our culture happiness is based on circumstances, and that’s not what blessedness means.  It is to be content despite circumstances. 

What is a living picture of this?  It is Paul and Silas being severely beaten and put in chains and in jail for preaching the gospel and singing hymns.  It may have been happiness, but I doubt it.  That’s contentment – it comes from knowing that you have God’s favour. 

“Flog me and throw me in prison in chains I don’t care because I have Christ.  Christ is in me, I am in Christ.  I serve a risen Saviour who is with me right now and forever.  I think I’ll sing a hymn now.  To God be the glory!”

“But Paul,” we say, “you’re chained up inside a prison!” and he replies, “Not really.  I’m free in Christ.  I’m under new ownership!”  That’s a picture of one who knows they are blessed, God’s favour rests on them. 

Now hold on to your seat.  Because the picture of being blessed is going to be different than you may think.  Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”

Who are the poor in spirit?  The poor in Spirit are those who realize they are in and of themselves spiritually bankrupt.  It is realizing I do not have the ability to be the person I’m created to be.  It is to say along with the Psalmist in Psalm 16:2, “You are the Lord, apart from you I have no good thing.”

To be spiritually poor is to take the place of the tax collector who wouldn’t even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God have mercy on me, a sinner.”  (Luke 18:13)

It is to be like Isaiah who has a vision of the holiness of God and says “Woe to me, for I am ruined.” (Isaiah 6:5)

You may say, “This is really bad psychology.”  Not really. It is no different than what Jesus said.  He said, I have come to heal the sick.  The Pharisees said, “We’re not sick.”  Jesus said, “I have nothing for you.”

But what about our self-worth?  It is bad for our self-worth to say that nothing good lives in me apart from Christ.  I would argue against that.  I would say that it is great for your self-worth.

Last night I did the stupidest thing.  Why is it at family parties we do the stupidest things.  I tried not to say it.  I promised I wouldn’t say it.  I was prepared, but I said it and I know I hurt the person.  I know I got my gibe in.  And afterward I felt so badly. 

Listen, if my self-worth is dependent on me then it will never be lifted from the pits. But if I am able to say honestly, “Nothing good lives in me apart from Christ – that even my self worth is found in Him,” then nothing can shake my self-worth, because my self-worth is not found in what I say and what I do and what I accomplish, but it is based on His love for me which is unshakeable.  His love for me – nothing can separate me from it.  And that’s amazing for my self-esteem – to know that the king of Kings died for me and loves me even when I mess up and mess up and mess up! 

To be spiritually poor is to be totally dependent on Christ.  The opposite of this is the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:17 who says, “We are rich, I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” 

Or how many times have I said that in the church.  If we just had this, then we would be fine.  If we just got this program or this person, or this number of people we would be fine, we would be rich, and do not need a thing. 

O how we need to hear the words of Jesus, “What you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined with fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.”    

Isn’t that he best way to recognize our poverty – to see how wealthy Christ is, how holy, how he alone is able to fulfill our spiritual needs? Think of His awesomeness, His power, His love, His grace, and then live in the light of these facts in total dependence upon Him.

It is to such that the kingdom of heaven belongs says Jesus.  They are under the rule of God.  They belong to me and I belong to them. These are the blessed ones, Tom.  Not the wealthy, not the self-sufficient, not the ones with the big church, or even the small church – for you can still be part of a small church and still believe that it all depends on you – NO!  Blessed are the poor in spirit, who come to Jesus and say, nothing good lives in me apart from Christ.

And blessed are those who mourn.  This refers to sorrow, not the sorrow of bereavement, but the sorrow of repentance.  Remember that this is a very carefully structured sermon and this beatitude follows the first, blessed are the poor in spirit who see their sinfulness, and now blessed are those who mourn over the sins and its effects in their lives and in the world.  Jesus promises us that when we mourn over our sin we will be comforted.  

This means then, that according to Jesus the Christian life is not all superficial happiness and laughter. There are some Christians who seem to think that if they are filled with the Spirit they must wear a perpetual grin on their face and continually be boisterous and bubbly, but that is not the biblical picture of a Christian.

To be sure fruit of the Spirit is joy.  But the truth is that there are such things as Christian tears, and too few of us ever weep them.  What this beatitude is saying is blessed are those who allow their hearts to be broken with things that break Christ’s heart.  Jesus wept over the sins of others, over their bitter consequences in judgment and death and over the unrepentant city which would not receive Him.

Did you know that while you and I were sleeping last night 40,000 children died from either diseases related to malnutrition or from starvation?  40,000 kids! Yet I know that we spend more time worrying about trivial little things in our Christianity. “Do you know what she said to me?”  “Can you believe what the deacons board is doing now?” “ Have you heard so-and-so use the “S” word?”   “Did you see the word that is used in the bulletin?”

We spend more time worrying over trivial little things than we do mourning over the fact that 40,000 kids died last night from starvation!  We have reduced our Christianity to saying all the polite words but we haven’t reduce it to the point where are hearts are broken with the things that break the heart of Jesus.

They are blessed because they will be given comfort, they will not be condemned, they will not be written off as a dead loss.  They will be comforted.  By whom?  I believe this is a reference to the Holy Spirit – who is called the Comforter.  And what is His work?  It is to replace all that I am with all that He is. 

So the role of the Holy Spirit is not one of repairing what we are, but replacing what we are with Him.  He replaces our poverty with His riches.  He replaces our defeat with His victory.  He replaces our weakness with His strength.  He replaces our sin with His righteousness.  This is very comforting!  The Christian life does not depend on our ability to change, but on the ability of the Holy Spirit, whose life fills our lives in response to repentance, and lives the life of Jesus within us.

Then, blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.  This too follows the first two – as a result of our poverty of spirit we mourn, we call out to God, and as a result of that we become meek. 

Be careful.  To be meek is not to be spineless.  It is not being a doormat.  Meekness is not synonymous with meekness.  The word literally means yieldedness.   It isn’t weakness.  It’s the opposite.  It takes a certain moral strength to admit how desperately we need God and yield unreservedly to Him.

And what is so blessed about yielding, giving oneself to God?  They will inherit the earth.  Stewart Briscoe suggests that this would be better translated, “they will inherit the land.”  Like the Israelites of old, as they followed and obeyed God they inherited the land, they overcame their enemies and knew the contentment of possessing all that God had in store for them. 

In my previous congregation I had a woman who came to worship faithfully, but without her husband.  He had one criticism of the church.  He said that it was filled with needy, dependent people.  He saw it as a sign of weakness.  And in his mind there was no place for him – being the self-made man that he was. 

And it’s true.  There is no place in God’s kingdom for those who believe that they have it all together.  God has nothing to offer to them.  There is no place in God’s kingdom for those who depend on their riches, or pride or are self-made.  But God’s kingdom has room to spare for those who are poor and who mourn and who yield themselves to God, saying I cannot be what you want me to be – but you can make me be what you want.

The first three are concerned with our need, He says, realizing our poverty before God, mourning over our sins and the consequences of sin in the world, being made meek as we realize the extent of our sin and our inability to save ourselves.  Then comes the great statement of the satisfaction of the need, God’s provision for it.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; for they shall be filled.

Having realized the need, we hunger and thirst, we long to be so thoroughly like Christ, we desire with every fibre that is alive within us to be free from sin and its effects and even the desire to sin and then God comes with His wondrous answer that we shall be filled, fully satisfied.

Have you ever hungered and thirsted for righteousness?  Righteousness is being like Christ, having a right standing before God. Have you thirsted for a live that is without sin, and does what is right?  I have.  And it’s usually right after I have sinned.  It’s usually right after I have slapped God in the face so to speak, when I have known the good that I ought to do but do the other.  And it’s after I’ve done that when I wish I could be delivered from this body of sin.  Have you ever felt like that?

The good news is that Jesus doesn’t say blessed are those who ARE righteous, but those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. 

Consider it – hunger and thirst – they are both appetites that begin to gnaw at you little by little. At first your stomach begins to growl, then you get a headache, then the pain in your belly gets stronger and you get weaker and you simply must have food and water so that you can stand it no longer those appetites must be quenched.  It grows out of a recognition of our need but also a recognition that God can fill us.

Such people are like Blind Bartimaeus, who continues to cry out to Jesus for mercy despite the crowd telling him to hush.  They are like Jacob struggling with the angel by the river Jabok not letting go until he receives the blessing.  “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.”  Notice it does not say, hope to be filled, or might be filled - they will be filled.

Having climbed to the top of the mountain with deep desire and need we now begin to come down the other side of the mountain and see the results of being filled.  We become merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers and as a result become persecuted for righteousness sake.

“Blessed are the merciful for they will shown mercy.”

Now you cannot start coming down this side of the mountain, so to speak, if you have not first climbed up it and reached its summit.  It follows all the others. I am poor in spirit, recognizing God’s holiness and my utter helplessness.  Not only this, but I mourn because of the sin that is within me and around me.  Not only that, I am meek which means that I know myself with all my sin and even my greatest enemy could not tell me anything worse about me.  I have a level assessment of who I am in the sight of God.

Because of this I hunger and thirst for righteousness I have longed for it, I know I cannot create it on my own.  I simply desire that new nature that would put me right in the sight of God and give me a new life.  I have seen it in Christ and by his great mercy I am filled. 

Now how is this righteousness expressed?  It is expressed in showing mercy. Remember this is not an evangelistic sermon.  Jesus is preaching to his followers.  So this is not a condition of becoming a Christian.  But it is a condition of maintaining the relationship we have with God through grace.

Now it follows if I have received this mercy I will in turn be merciful.  And if I am merciful I will continue to be shown mercy.  That is what this fifth beatitude means.

Of course it is impossible for me to forgive those who hurt me, who slander me, who sin against me if I have not first experienced the forgiveness of the Holy God whom I have slandered and sinned against. But here, we are told that if we want to experience more of God’s mercy we must be merciful.  This is the truth that Jesus repeats in what is called the Lord’s Prayer. He says, we should pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” 

Charles Price tells of a time when he was at a prayer meeting he heard a man pray, “Lord thank you for not making us cups but for making us pipes.” Charles wondered about that, but he discovered that that is a great picture of the Christian life.  We are meant to be pipes where the mercy of God flows out to others, we are not meant to be cups holding His love and grace and mercy in.

Again this is so different than what the world teaches.  The world teaches revenge.  This is not the Christian way.  Blessed are those who are merciful for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. To be pure in heart is to be singular in focus.  It is Hebrews 12:2 personified.  It is having Jesus as our focus and Him alone.  And it is as we are singularly focused upon Jesus Christ that we will see God.  We cannot help but see Him.

Notice that this promise is given to the pure in heart -  not those pure in the practice of religion, or pure in their external practice of religion.

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.”

Again Charles Price states that this refers to those who proclaim Jesus Christ in word and deed.  Jesus Christ has come to bring us peace with God (Romans 5:1) and the peace of God (Philippians 4:7).  It is as we live in relationship with Christ who is our peace that we proclaim peace to the world. 

Blessed are the peacemakers – why?  Because they will be called children or sons of God.  We will share in the title of Him who is the only begotten Son of the Father.  Jesus the Son of God who came to make peace by the blood of His cross.

And then finally, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Notice that it does not say, blessed are those who are persecuted for being fools.  Blessed are those who are persecuted for being obnoxious.  Blessed are those who are persecuted for being unwise.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for rightousness’ sake.”  Righteousness – that is blessed are you when you practice righteousness.  That is when you are being like the Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore blessed are those who are persecuted for being like Him.

Why people insult you and malign you and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you – you are blessed.  Why?  Because the world hates Christ – it has hated His prophets down through the ages and it will hate you when you act and think like Christ.

This is where the Christ of culture and the Christ of the Bible stand in stark contrast.  The Christ of culture says come follow me and you will have a good life, happy life a carefree life, a wealthy life, you will get to have everything your way.  But the Christ of the Bible says, You will be persecuted, the world will hate you, you will have trouble in this life because of me.

Can you believe He said this?  Can you believe that even the 12 disciples decided to follow Him?  But look at this – “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  And because of this we rejoice and are glad.  For our present sufferings do not compare to the future glory.

My friends Jesus says blessed are the poor in Spirit.  This is so contrary to what we often think and believe.  You ask me what it means to be blessed and I will tell you as a pastor that a blessed pastor is one with a big church.  How big?  Bigger than everyone else of course!! And Jesus says, “No Tom, that’s not what it means to be blessed.” 

I don’t know what you may say, for you it may be being recognized for the valuable person you are with accolades and awards and raises.  That’s a sign of being blessed.   We have to ask ourselves is our character, changed to such a degree that we are understanding what it means to be blessed in the kingdom of God?

During the past number of weeks we have been going door to door asking people how we can pray for them – the overwhelming response is – “I don’t need anything.  I’m fine.  Life is good right now.”   My friends, God has nothing to offer such a person!

We need to pray and ask God to break us open.  To break us of all self-dependence and look to Him for righteousness, for mercy to be our peace.  We will be persecuted for it.  The world will hate us for it.  But it is the only way to living a truly blessed life.

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - October 2006

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