Well, I invite you to turn to Matthew chapter 5. As I prayed, we'll be beginning a sermon, a little brief series here. Maybe we'll go through the whole Sermon on the Mount. I haven't decided yet, but at least for the Beatitudes for now, I'll be reading at verse down on page 962, chapter 4, beginning at 23, and then we'll read the Beatitudes through verse 11. As you know, some of you know, I went camping with my boys the last few weeks, and we went through, you know, Utah and where are these states? We went through Colorado and Wyoming and South Dakota. The girls wanted nothing to do with it. I tried. They wanted, they did not want to come. But we had a great time, and one of the things that I thought that captures something that we'll see in this series up front is a little experience that we had in going to hike around and look at graves and tombstones, which is what pastors like to do on vacation. And we hiked around in the Glenwood Springs, Colorado hills, and we found the tomb of Wild Bill Hickok. And then we went over to South Dakota, and we went to Deadwood. And no, that wasn't Wild Bill. Wild Bill's in Deadwood. Who's the other guy in Glenwood Springs? Doc Holliday. Sorry. Doc Holliday. So we saw both these tombstones. And, you know, kids are fascinated by this. The movies are made on these guys. And all the crowds are over at Wild Bill's grave. And I said, let's walk around and look at these graves for a little while. And there was Preacher Smith. Nobody was visiting Preacher Smith. He was dying. He was the first preacher in the Black Hills who died of a gunshot going to preach the gospel. Nobody knows about Preacher Smith. Everyone knows about Wild Bill. What does everyone know about Wild Bill? He was a gambler and an outlaw. That's classy, isn't it? There's something about that that captures exactly what Jesus is doing here in describing the righteous and how backward everything is in the kingdom of God to the world. And this is one of the things you'll be able to explain to your children when you see things like this, as my boys heard the whole trip. it's important to talk about these things and this morning i thought i would set that in front of you to show the two kinds of people and to show a great comparison and contrast that jesus is making here to help us understand who are those that enter the kingdom of god beginning at verse 23 of matthew chapter 4 and he went throughout all galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people so his fame spread throughout all syria and they brought him all the sick those afflicted with various diseases and pains those oppressed by demons those having seizures and paralytics and he healed them and great crowds followed him from galilee and the decapolis and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him and He opened His mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you there will in the reading of god's word really the text this morning is the first beatitude of chapter three blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven well i thought this morning that it would be helpful to begin a short series through the beatitudes what inspired this was actually on vacation some of the things that we have time to reflect and to think about but questions i had about the character of those who inherit the kingdom of god at times in the gospels you really feel and maybe you've read jesus and been confused by jesus in many of the things that he emphasizes and sometimes the difficult words that he has how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of god how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of god and jesus seemed to constantly press this on people it's an important question when we consider entering the kingdom how difficult is it to enter the kingdom how do people enter the kingdom maybe more importantly what kind of people enter the kingdom why these questions matter is precisely because everything of jesus's kingdom ethic is backward to our natural thinking and that's what concerns me am i naturally confused naturally as to if i look to christianity and i'm considering christianity i'm considering what it is and what it means to be a follower of jesus am i naturally confused as to what that would be and to what that means how would i know and if god's ways are not our ways then on this question we're going to have to listen carefully to jesus because everything that is natural to us in our natural way of thinking due to the sinful nature about who we believe will be in heaven and who is blessed of god in this life will not be who we naturally think will be there and who is blessed. My questions really are, who is it that is truly blessed in this life? And what is that? What does that look like? How do we know? And what constitutes blessing? These are important questions because they were big questions for the Jews, especially this issue of blessing. Jesus here speaks of blessedness. There's nobody who in this life doesn't want to be blessed. That's a great concept. That's a happy concept. But what is it, really? What is it to be blessed? And again, what constitutes that? What does it even mean when we go and tell somebody, I'm blessed. Or that we pray to God and say, God, thank you for all the blessings that you give us. What is that? What are we really saying? What do we mean by these things? What is a blessed person? Who is a blessed person? Is it someone who has a lot? Is it somebody who can say today, my heart's full? Is it because I have a big family? Is it because I have lots of grandchildren running around? Is that the blessed life? What indicates blessedness? Pagans enjoy all these things. Pagans enjoy all these things. What is the blessed life? How would I know what it means? And if I could answer this question, What constitutes the truly blessed person in this life? Well, if you can understand that today with me and we can begin to get a grasp on that, then you're going to understand Jesus a whole lot more in the Gospels. It's really the gateway teaching to understanding Jesus in the Gospels and what He's doing and understanding at times why He seems so difficult and hard. I suggest the Beatitudes are the kingdom description of something very important. He's describing those who have already entered the kingdom. It's a really important point. He's describing those who've already entered the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is theirs. The kingdom of heaven belongs to these. It's theirs by right. That's why I want to explore with you then in this series on the Beatitude what that looks like. Jesus was obviously very concerned about the concept of being blessed in this life, going through a long tradition in history in Israel of the terms blessing and blessedness. It's all throughout the Psalms, begins in Psalm 1, blessed is the man. And that theme meant a lot to David. David constantly talked about blessedness. So this was a very large, big theme in Jewish life. and i think we get an indication here of jesus jesus's concern in light of what is sandwiched between these beatitudes what i don't think sometimes gets the proper attention that it should and that's why i backed up and read for a minute to give you an indication of i think what precipitated this what brought about jesus to start with the beatitudes which at times is confusing to people in both matthew and luke i don't think we can separate what comes from before with what incited this whole sermon. What precedes the sermon is this. And he went throughout Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, notice, and healing every affliction among the people. This is quite a verse. So that as his fame spread, they brought him, notice the list here, all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases, and pains and those oppressed by demons epileptics and paralytics and he healed them this must have taken hours to do days to do people severely afflicted in this life and as the sermon on the amount begins Jesus sees the masses continuing to come this is this is not ending and so he goes up on the mountain and sits down he wants time with his disciples his disciples come to him here's what i believe is important here what would they have thought about these sick people well we know from jewish thought they would have generally thought these are the cursed of god these are the cursed of god and jesus is in all of his healing what they might begin to think is is that jesus's ministry was simply to fix all the problems in this life all the pains in this life and to bring about the prosperity maybe of psalm 118 of israel again and healing would mark those then in the ministry of Jesus who are the truly blessed in this life if they're healed you don't think that's been a big confusion in the church to this day oh it's been a big confusion in the church you walk down you know just think about our city you walk to lower Vons I said lower I guess the higher Vons is a different i think that's a little nicer lower von seems a little rougher to me you go to lower von's and you look around and my human nature i see a lot of homeless that's just escondido in general now i see a lot of sick i see a lot of afflicted. By and large, human nature, those are the people the world leaves alone. Our politicians haven't helped these people. There's been great injustice to these people. But my own heart, they're not the people I want to be around. I don't want to be around them. Well, that's the front end of the Beatitudes. The back end here are the Pharisees. Does he speak well of them? Well, we know he would say, they are those who have no need of a physician. But what kind of physician? The disciples would have naturally thought that the most educated, The most respected, the best scholars, those who held to the greatest positions of prominence in Israel, the Sanhedrin, are the blessed of God. And Jesus gives a thundering indictment. I'm telling you right now, unless your righteousness exceeds who you think are the greatest, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. They must have been stunned. he's greatly concerned now to teach them about who's truly blessed of God. Who is? How would I know? We don't have this recorded from Jesus in helping all these people with their problems. What we don't have in this section are the responses of the people, which is interesting. because jesus made a big deal about the responses of people um when they responded well to what he did for them and it it made me think as i was wrestling through this and looking through this section who enters the kingdom of heaven who is going to heaven who enters it today and so here's what jesus does he he gathers his disciples around him and he he wants time with them and he begins to teach them and a beautiful a beautiful little sentence is given here and he opened his mouth it's just powerful saying nine times blessed blessed blessed we call these the beatitudes from latin word beatus the greek word means to be blessed or happy in this life it's a huge word for our present time isn't it i mean this is intensely what everyone is is is thinking about everyone is seeking uh in our present life and in our present world right now about happiness they're thinking about identity they're thinking about you know think of the movies the pursuit of happiness and and we have our ideas of what would constitute happiness in the american dream what jesus is describing here is how people in this life can indeed be truly and profoundly happy but whatever jesus is about to say we have to realize is something that will naturally challenge what constitutes what we think constitutes true happiness when we run around and say thank you for being blessing thank you for the blessing thank you for i'm blessed what does that mean? What does that look like? Jesus' kingdom ethic is directly contrary to what we naturally think would bring happiness. In every way. So what am I talking about? Well, that's the crucial point. We need to think about what the Beatitudes are and what Jesus is saying here, but here's the problem. Naturally, and this has been a problem even in interpreting the Beatitudes, we approach the Beatitudes as a crucial point of the sermon. We tend to think that the Beatitudes are things that we must do to achieve and enter the kingdom of God. In other words, these are the entrance requirements into God's kingdom. Put it this way i can answer it this way who do you think are naturally the most blessed in this life well there's a whole history of philosophy on this point the philosopher said the more virtuous you are the more happy you will be so the idea was that the better of a person you are the more happy you will be in this life and that's true in a general sense i think if there's more virtuous people than not i think there's going to be a general happiness that comes about but virtues here that jesus talks about are not kind of the virtues the philosophers talked about we're talking about the kingdom of god the most general thing we think of being blessed in this life is to have this is across the board here right now this is right here the most general thing we think to be blessed of god in this life is to have a life free of pain and sorrow and to have what we think constitutes the good life. Take Calvin on this point. We are obsessed with the idea of happiness. We naturally, so much so that we naturally regard as unhappy anyone who suffers poverty, want, sickness, who limps miserably through life or who never has a good day's health or who endures disgrace, how could someone be happy like that who is suffering? And I think that there's a reason there as to why he wants to take time to teach his disciples. This is a big, big, big, big point. Whoever is hurting or whoever is hated, Calvin says, We cannot reconcile the idea of shame, poverty, hunger, thirst with happiness. So we are so tied to creaturely comforts that we cannot think of happiness in any other terms than whether life is going well and whether we are having the good life and the pain-free life and the blessed life. That's blessed. here's the problem everything jesus is about to say that he attaches this blessedness to you'd never naturally say is blessed in this life if i stood up here today and was severely afflicted if i had to be rolled up here into the wheelchair. If I was all marred up, I'm not the kind of person you naturally would want to be around or have preach. Here's Jesus healing all these sicknesses of the people and I think He's concerned that His disciples understand who is truly blessed in this life. They just got a better life, Jesus, didn't they? Sure they did. that's not what I'm talking about. They illustrate something. It's not in achieving a pain-free, hedonistic existence in pursuit of happiness. Because as you all know, the call of Jesus just doesn't fit that. There's a radical call of Christ was one of taking up a cross and following Him. And bearing His shame and reproach. Remember that in Hebrews? Let us go outside the city and bear his reproach. So when we say we're blessed, we may not be saying the same thing Jesus is. What is blessing? What is happiness? Are we blessed if we suffer? Are we blessed if our health fails? Are we blessed if the world hates us? are we blessed if we lose the loved one sitting next to us? Are we blessed if, as Paul said, we are to be pitied at all and we are the scum of the earth? Are we blessed? Yet never say it. Well, here's some of the sweetest gospel statements in all of the scriptures by Jesus. what i mean is he's not giving you requirements to enter the kingdom he's describing the characteristics and qualities that he is actively working within you that marks you as his children let me repeat that because i think that's really crucial to the sermon this morning he is not giving you entrance requirements into the kingdom he is describing the characteristics and the qualities that he's actively working within you that marks you as his children and that's what makes you blessed. He is describing those who have entered the kingdom because of the fact that he is working in them to be made into his image. And what is that image? The one theme that penetrates all these beatitudes is humility. Humility. How we stand out as salt and light in the world, as those who are in the kingdom, here is how. And so we move to two of these surprising marks. I'm really focusing on the first one here just briefly. Who is truly happy Jesus begins? The poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Luke leaves off in spirit. So Jesus, when they heard him in Luke, when Luke records, blessed are the poor, theirs is the kingdom. Can you imagine the effect of that? Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That is shocking in and of itself. And it leads to all kinds of problems, doesn't it? Is he saying the rich in this life are cursed? That's how the woke want us to understand this passage of this day. You know, it was appalling how people commented on these rich people who went down in a submarine and died. They took delight. Some people took delight in that because they were rich. Is Jesus saying that to be blessed you must become materially poor? You know how much teaching there is on this point. I mean, maybe you've been confused by this in the Gospels. It's not sometimes so easy to kind of get into the mind of Jesus on this issue, is it? How hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Woe to those who trust in riches. The man who said, Come, my soul, you have done really well in life for yourself. Build bigger barns, eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die. Jesus said, You fool, no, it's today. You might think of the rich man and Lazarus. There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried in Hades when he was in torment. He looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus, that poor man who I always pass by, send him to dip the finger in water and cool my tongue because I'm in agony in this fire. Abraham's replied, Son, remember that in your life you received all that good stuff while Lazarus received bad things but now he's comforted and you're in agony what is Jesus teaching in all this Jesus was never teaching having stuff is the real problem what is the problem with the rich who are the rich it's precisely that when they have everything they need nothing maybe to help us understand this you could contrast this poor in spirit with which with what it would mean to be rich in spirit listen to me carefully what is what does everyone want to desire to achieve in life what does everyone would love to achieve in life well just take it in any category you want to take it we would love to show ourselves all as strong physically we would love everyone to see that we're doing well we would love everyone to see that we are successful and that we are capable and respected and the more poised and the more that we appear together, that is what we pride ourselves on. And that's what, right from the garden, John would later designate as the pride of life. Does any of that make people happy in the world? Maybe. Take the things of this life. What happens when we're able to get everything that we want without restraint? Is that good for us? Is that really good for us? You can have anything you want without restraint. There's no limits. And we attempt to live for that, finding satisfaction, happiness in the achievement of material goods. Does that satisfy? Or is it an unquenchable thirst, as Rockefeller said? What's really behind it? Here's the point I'm trying to make. When we're trying to achieve what the world holds as valuable, whether it be beauty, health, strength, financial gain, and we attempt to live for the good things of this life, what drives that is pride. And Calvin said, what we glean from this is that those who are rich in spirit, who are wrapped in self-esteem, who love earthly pleasures, social recognition, who claim merit on the grounds of birth or property, prestige or reputation, All are cursed and rejected by Christ. You see the problem? What we naturally are all trying to achieve, what I'm trying to achieve naturally is today to everyone to admire Chris Gordon. Look at me. Look what I've achieved. Look at my strength. I'm doing well, you know. I don't want any of you to know that I have the slightest problem in my life. Or with children, my children. Pastors got it together. Isn't that the huge problem in the church today, beloved? Maybe why our witness is not very good? Because we're rich in spirit? What is Jesus describing? The blessedness of his kingdom are those whom God is training to be poor in spirit. In other words, God is actively working to humble all your pride. Think of the apostle. You know what God did to him. God gave him a thorn in the flesh and he begged God three times to take it away. And you know what the effect of that was? the super apostles mocked him and said, how could that guy ever be a pastor? He's got this thorn. He's pathetic. He's weak. And Paul says, when I understood this, I started boasting in my thorn, realizing that true power rests upon me in weakness. This is the backwardness to life. God is working in the lives of those who have entered His kingdom to humble their pride. And this is the blessedness He's speaking of, even if we have everything. I'm not discounting God's good gifts. Even if you have everything, it's not an evil thing. It depends. God leaves you alone to serve those things, or God's actively working in you. And that's what He's describing here. So that just when we try to exercise our greatness, which is what we had a previous president telling everything that life is about, greatness. Just when we try to exercise our greatness, just when we push our self-esteem, just when we attempt to live for riches, just when we attempt to serve these gods, And gladly we would be rich in spirit and think that's blessed. He allows something to come and humble you. Maybe it's a besetting sin he hasn't delivered you from. There's no excuse. Maybe it's a circumstance. Maybe it's some loss. Maybe it's some affliction. To what end? Look at David. So much pride. So much outward blessing. So that when he sinned with Bathsheba and then was humbled to the dust, even with loss, he could finally write a psalm and explain what blessedness is all about. Blessed is the man to whom you do not impute sin. That's blessed. And that's what Jesus is talking about. That's humility. In other words, God is frequently working to see that we have nothing in ourselves. I didn't achieve anything here today, myself. You didn't either. Your intellects, your money, your very heartbeat every day when God could have judged you and put you in hell is something He gave you. And by nature, we are all trying to be rich in spirit in whatever form it'll take. Where does it leave us? Self-confident, self-satisfied proof we never pray. We're never on our knees. And that's why Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn. Here's the backwardness of what I'm talking about. You would think that this would make for a hard life. Remember, everything is counterintuitive here. You would think this would make for a hard life to be broken. And you would think it would make for a hard life to continue to mourn over your sins. You would think, what kind of deal is that? Maybe there's someone in here today who's really not a believer in thinking, what kind of deal is this? What is this? They're obsessed with sin. it's precisely in this that Jesus says He is blessing us and training us in humility to trust Him in all hardship, in the bearing of a cross, and that He has appointed for us that in the suffering and affliction, listen, in the suffering and affliction, we become truly happy because His blessing's on us. The backwardness of the kingdom ethic. These who are truly happy for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They are able to live for what's most important. They are able to enjoy and would never miss hearing the gospel. That's why Sabbath's important. The prideful have no place for this. They are able to see the darkness of this world and they are able to see the light that Christ gives to those who see sin and misery and they're able to see that God is disciplining them in Christ-like humility and in poverty of spirit to bless them with true happiness. Because as Jesus said, a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Everything is already yours. And you have the privilege to be like God's Son. That's what Mary said. God pulls down the mighty and the kings from their seats and He lifts up, listen, the lowly who were once despised. So whatever you may be facing today, hardship, death, mourning, sickness, tears. It does not mean you are not blessed of God. It means that as God is training you in these things to trust Him, there is the evidence of His blessing to be poor in spirit before Him who has given you everything. Not only this, but we glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces what? Perseverance. And perseverance character and character hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who have been trained in Christ-like humility in this life to recognize everything they have is from Him. And everything they face as they come to lean upon Him and trust Him for everything, the Lord wants you to know today that man is truly blessed. That man has for Him waiting the glory of eternal life. Amen. Heavenly Father, thank You for helping us today, for training us in the wisdom of this great beatitude. Confess that we naturally love to show ourselves as great and we put our trust in something other than you. We are so thankful for your work in us to train us and instruct us to be poor in spirit. For there's blessedness. There is happiness. As we see, oh Lord, the riches that are given to us in a Savior who loved us and died for us. Bless this message today to our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you.