Reading of the text, Matt 5:1-12, begins at 32:00 minutes on the attached YouTube
My crude notes from Pastor Carl’s sermon April 14
Psalm 46: nations are in uproar. Israel, Ukraine, Be still and know that I am exalted,
Our God is inviting us to be unshakable in the midst of overwhelming shaking and quaking,
Jesus said there be famines and wars, and rumors of wars, the church needs to be prepared, theme for the year 2024 is being unshakable, now we’re talking about an unshakable kingdom, being unshakable ourselves, on the sermon on the Mount, the beatitudes, Matt 5: 1-12, our boat is tied, it appears we’re moving, but that’s because the world about us is moving, but we are anchored. God, help us to understand the reality of our situation
We will look at three parts of this passage:
- First, Jesus is teaching about our CITIZENSHIP: Process of naturalization, I want to be become a citizen here, forms, civics class, some basic functional knowledge, tested, ceremony, take an oath, similar to children of Israel, what does it mean for you to live in relationship with me, in a world that doesn’t acknowledge me? I’m making of you a nation, I’m giving you citizenship, you’ll have all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in being in relationship with me, gave them and us the Ten Commandment, first four concerning our relationship to God as my people, next six for how are we going to live in relationship with people in His community, it’s all about citizenship in His kingdom, Sermon on Mount is 1.) instructional for us to join, 2.) invitational for us without to join, to become kingdom people, this is what it means to be citizens, to have a Savior from our past, to have a Lord of our lives right now, king & guide presently during this shaking, what does it mean for us to be kingdom people? Matt 6: 9 Kingdom prayer, not a ritual, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, seek first the K of G, kingdom Priority, then K Provision (seek His Rightousness, and thse things will be added to you, birds of the air, food, clothes, do not get so focused on provision, then onto K Priority, v 19,20, whoever Practices, unless you surpass the Pharisees, these are Practical, calls 4 , Peter, Andrew, James, John, He’s doing invitational, what does it mean to be Citizens in the Kingdom of God,
- Second, Jesus is teaching about our CONVICTIONS (what you believe about God), CHARACTER(who you are before God), and your CONDUCT (how you do live before God), Sundays are getting the desserts after all the meals of your self-studies of of the Kingdom meals you’ve been eating & living all week long, so you need to be worshipping, studying, and growing all week long, because if you’re just coming for desert on Sunday, that is not going to hold you over, So looking at each of these Beatitudes, what is God desiring to teach us from each of them in regard to driving and undergirding the formulation and implementation of our convictions, our character, and our conduct?
Start with V 3, do I recognize my being poor in spirit, my poverty in the image God created me to be, and when I see Him, do I recognize who this Holy God is? that on my own I can’t achieve or attain His intended Rightousness for me, I’m spiritually impoverished, so how does that shape my character? How does that determine how I conduct my life?
V 4 Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted? Does my spiritual character reflect an awareness that comes to me when I become aware of my own waywardness? Do I grieve that I am spiritually deficient, or even that the world about me is so spiritually impoverished?
V5 Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth… meek … colt born, later time to be trained, or broke, Meek here in his verse means to be broken, have I been broken for Kingdom use by recognizing my impoverishment even though as a son of the King so that God can use me, Just as a horse must be broken in order to be trained so to be usable by his Master, to be guided and controlled by the reins to move and to work appropriately for his master’s wishes, commands,
V 6, hunger and thirst after Rightousness, Jesus reflected, Do I Hunger & Thirst after Rightousness, Do I actually crave His Rightousness being exhibited within me? Do I exhibit His fruit of the Spirit? Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control Gal. 5:22-23 Memorize them, because these are the character of Christ, don’t use another man to be your model, because you must want to be like Jesus, that is whom you are hungering for, how does that impact your 3 C’s (convictions, character, conduct)
V 7 blessed are the merciful… do I show mercy, compassion to those I meet?
V 8 blessed are the pure in heart…does my outward walk reflect my inward heart?
V 9 blessed are the peacemakers, do I believe (God’s desire) is it my desire? Do I bring people together in love & reconciliation? As citizen people we have a God who is defining in the example of Jesus Christ, what Kingdom Citizenship looks like; how your convictions of who God is and who we are, will shape your character, who you are, and out of that will determine your conduct, how you will live as a Kingdom Citizen in this world, so we can’t expect people to act right if they are not believing right, if their heart isn’t right. They may have the right conviction, but it must permenate who they are, and that is a training process (broken as a horse) for all of us, and over time, since none of us yet have fully arrived, that we become transformed and empowered (via our convictions, character & conduct) and do battle with church membership imposters (luke-warm cultural Christian who excel at sitting soaking and souring in our faith communities until their lack of fruit reveal to everyone, that they are tares and they choose to either split and to remove themselves from Kingdom fellowship, or if they are so overwhelmed by the forgiveness and the reconciling love from within their community, they choose to repent, turning from the evil one toward Christ for the absolution of their sin and their complete restoration in their local community of the Kingdom of God…)
Question? Did those on the mountain that day understand all Jesus’ teachings on the first setting? No, it’s an ongoing continual process, that of learning who God is, who Jesus is, allowing that to shape me into who I am, before Him, then living that out, in the world around me,
So in summary, your citizenship will determine your convictions, what you believe, your character, who you are; your conduct, how you live; and I need to tell you these Beatitudes are not exhaustive, they are just illustrations of who God is, what He wants you to be, and how He wants you to live.
- Third, Jesus is teaching about your CONDITION, for if you are a Kingdom Citizen, your Convictions, Character and Conduct will reflect Christ in your life and that these 3 C’s (convictions, character, & conduct):will cause your life to exhibit a specific CONDITION, which will be called what? Can you guess? The word is blessed…. It means happy or joyful, really. You will be blessed if you know you are a citizen in this kingdom, that is unshakable, that you serve an unshakable king, and that you absolutely know who He is, for when you know who He is, you will know more about who you are, you’re going to know about the past, present and future, and convictions on all kinds of things, such that you can declare, “I am a citizen of the Kingdom of God, part of the family of God, my Father is in heaven, He sent His Son because He loves me, and this is going to shape your character, and by the way He gives you His Spirit to just come along inside of you to help shape that character, that’s why we call it the fruit of the Spirit, but He keeps working on you, then guess what, the when you know who God is, and you know who He wants you to be, your life should show it, Ok? And then when all of that is happening, it really doesn’t matter what is happening all around you, I know this a little radical, yes, the world may be shaking, nations may be in uproar, mountains may be falling into the heart of the seas, or it may be your own life that is falling apart, the devil will try to bring things into your life, that will cause you to be shaken, but you don’t have to be, because you’ll say I know the King, And I’m part of his family… I’m a citizen of his kingdom, He is doing a work in my life, He is allowing me to live my life in a manner that reflects my relationship with Him, but I know and down the road, the war is won, even though the battle continues on…. and I already know the outcome, so I can live a blessed (happy & joyful life now!!
As Paul says in Philippians Two, “I’ve learned the secret of being content,” and living the really blessed life, it is not found in all that stuff, power, prestige, in fact the world keeps telling you that all that stuff will be beneficial and helpful, but they are wrong, for Paul says again in ch 4, I’ve learned that whatever I’m going thru I can just go before the Lord in prayer, and I’ll just be given this peace from God that nothing is going to happen to me that the King is not already aware of, and because I serve that King, and because I’m a citizen in that kingdom, because I serve in that Kingdom, then I think what Paul is telling us then, is that my condition is blessed. I can ignore the prison, the chains, ignore the possible death thing coming up, ignore all that stuff, because I’m blessed, and what Paul wants us to know is that Jesus is trying to help us, through the Sermon on the Mount, throughout the gospels, is to know what it means to be a citizen of his kingdom, in Christ, and let’s remember that attaining that citizenship is our primary, single focus, for when we understand that He is our king and we are his citizens, in his kingdom, (I think the term Kingdom comes up 121 times in the gospels) for when I understand I’m a citizen of this kingdom, then I understand, that awareness, or knowledge, is going to shape my convictions, going to shape my character, going to shape my conduct, of who I am in Christ, shapes me in all those areas, for when I know I’m a citizen, that then changes my condition to blessed…to blessed being happy & joyful, and that joy transcends, prisons, chains, all those things that Paul went through. Next week, Matt will speak on what it means to be salt and light in that Kingdom…
Blessed are They Who Suffer in Faith for the Glory of God is Theirs…
Next Up: A revealing short five paragraph incident with Radio psychiatrist Frasier Crane , from the TV show Frasier, giving the quote “Who am I to draw the line at the acceptable level of force?” Realize anger and murder come from the same root!