Overview
An exploration of Jesus’ first words from “The Sermon on the Mount”
Matthew 5:3-12.
How do we become “Spiritually Mature?” What is the process? How can
we use Spiritual Babyhood, Childhood and Adolesence to build ourselves
up to being the “perfect” or mature person in Chirst God needs and
desires?
Learn to see the verses 3-12 of Matthew 5 as a “prescription for
perfection.” Study these verses as if they all pertain to YOU and not
to
different groups of people. See yourself as the subject of Jesus’
direction and blessings.
Being a child of God comes with assurances of God’s Covenant promises
as listed in Deuteronomy 28:1-14
We also have the certainty of tribulations of the world as we have
been warned by Jesus along with the directive to “be of good cheer, for
He has overcome the world.
Therefore, we can conclude from Jesus that although God has promised
His children blessings, peace and prosperity, we must also expect times
of trouble, frustration, inconvenience and heartbreak brought to us
simply because of the fact that we who are blessed and live in faith
still have to live in the world attendant with its physical problems.
But - We can "be of good cheer" because Jesus teaches us not only how
He has "overcome the world," but how WE can "overcome the world" - by
Becoming Complete, Jesus' way.
When we examine Matthew 5:3-12, we find ourselves sitting on a
mountainside, looking up at Jesus as He teaches us and the multitude of
people around us a lesson of hope which outlines His blessings.
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Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
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We learn first that those who are poor in spirit are blessed because
they shall see the kingdom of heaven. What exactly does it mean to be
poor in spirit? In the amplified Bible, the translation is humble &
contrite. We can even take that to include the term, repentant ,
changed
in heart or turned toward God. We want to be among those who have a
right to claim the Kingdom of Heaven, but donning an appearance of
humbleness and contrition in order to seem poor in spirit is the only
response available to those who are living a lifestyle of selfishness
and pride.
Try as we might, if we’re living as a part of the world, not
accepting the fact that we’ve been separated to God, sanctified,
redeemed and Holy, God’s very own children, we simply can’t be poor in
spirit, humble, repentant and contrite. We find ourselves questioning
God at every turn, asking Him Why? or When? over every trying event or
circumstance we encounter in our daily walk through life. Se we can
deduce that being humble and contrite is equivalent to admitting that
God is the controlling force in our lives, not our circumstances,
desires, our present, past or future, our experiences or family. We
become humble and contrite by admitting that Jesus is Lord of our
lives,
God is in control and we must be content to let God show us His
blessings in His own time.
Once, we learn this truth, we find that we are, indeed, living in The
kingdom of Heaven which belongs to God and is completely subject to
Him.
Whoever seeks to learn this simple yet precious truth, taught to us by
Jesus himself, finds God’s profound peace which we know to be
unsurpassed, unwavering confidence and completeness which is the
blessing of God’s presence in our lives.
God’s children not only can become poor in spirit humble and
contrite, we must! We must let go of the worldly system of asking and
expecting answers to why? and when? about God’s Heavenly, eternal
system. We do this by believing God’s Word, written in the Old and New
Testaments, spoken by Jesus Himself and manifested by our Creator. In
this way, He continues his ongoing work of establishing His Kingdom
which comes through us as we submit ourselves, through His Word alone,
to God’s own Hope, Faith and Love.
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Matthew 5:4
Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be
comforted.
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Once we have attained the sincere and unfeigned goal of complete
trust, humility and humbleness in God only, not the world or ourselves,
we are ready to receive God’s comfort as we mourn, as Jesus promised in
his second blessing . Because we have now become humble and contrite,
we
find ourselves mourning for others, longing to be comforted, assured by
the knowledge that our loved ones, our fellow man, whether stranger or
known, deserving or not, also come into possession of God’s Kingdom,
the
Kingdom of Heaven.
We find ourselves praying beyond our own needs and wants for the
enlightenment, salvation and peace which can only be attained by God’s
very presence. We long for our spiritual family to be enlarged by not
only the members of our worldly family, but by every person we meet or
who is brought to our attention.
We mourn as we come to more fully realize God’s love with which He so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasing life. We
establish God’s kingdom in our own lives and in the lives of others as
we act on that mourning through prayer, giving and imparting the very
presence of Jesus Himself. By living out God’s plan of building the
very
body of Jesus Himself here on earth, we become apostle (one sent),
prophet, preacher, pastor or teacher – formally educated or not,
ordained or not.
Because we mourn – long for our fellowman to be brought into God’s
Kingdom – we are comforted and empowered by the anointing of God’s own
Spirit working within us. How wondrous to find that comfort manifested
in the Fruits of the Spirit as we have learned in Galatians 5:22-23. We
are blessed with Love, Joy and Peace, Patience, Gentleness and
Goodness,
Faith, Meekness and Self-Control. God blesses or empowers us with these
fruits or gifts of the spirit so that we are able to reach out to those
who are lost – friend or family or stranger, just as God intended when
He first gave His only begotten Son.
Now we see God’s kingdom being established in our own lives as we
look at the progression of blessings Jesus is explaining to us as He
begins His Sermon on the mountainside.
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Matthew 5:5
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the
earth.
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When we let go of our worldly ways of asking Why? and When? When we
repent and ask God’s forgiveness for not believing Him and not trusting
in Him, we become Poor in Spirit – contrite and humble, no longer
stiff-necked, full of worldly pride and expectations, subborn, selfish
and self-willed. We are then blessed with the peace and Life only
present in God’s Kingdom of Heaven. And because we are poor in Spirit,
we are more sincerely and effectively capable of mourning for others to
be a part of God’s perfect Kingdom.
We realize then, that we are ready to learn, we have become meek. We
are not only willing to listen to Jesus speak to us through His Word
and
His Holy Spirit, we actively participate in eagerly seeking Him
wherever
we can find Him. We become sensitive to God’s Holy Spirit speaking His
perfect truth. We begin to discern and recognize God’s voice through
the
Word spoken, written and acted upon.
The gift of meekness, then, is God’s very power manifested in us as
we learn to listen to, believe in and obey His Voice. Only through His
Wisdom and guidance will we have the ability to more perfectly and
properly mourn, which in turn allows God to work through us to gather
his lost sheep.
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Matthew 5:6
Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled.
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Should we then dare to hunger and thirst after righteousness? Can we
be humble and mourning and meek while longing for righteousness? Is it
possible to be in right-standing with God, confident and free from
guilt
while remaining humble, meek and mourning for the lost?
Evidently. For Jesus tells us Himself, sitting right there on that
mountainside, that we will be filled, satisfied and completed, when we
hunger and thirst after righteousness. Yet, we know ourselves how
readily we revert to ungodliness when we’re lonely and tired, all too
aware of our own human nature, we often allow ourselves thoughts of
returning to our old worldly ways. We are tempted to dispair that
perhaps God was mistaken in choosing us to be His children. Certainly
someone else would be stronger, more able, more willing, more righteous
than we! But in this verse, after all the blessings given to the lowly,
we are lifted by Jesus' own words. We can look at ourselves through His
eyes and see that our very despair is evidence of our hunger and thirst
for righteousness! We ever long for spiritual maturity and perfection
only to find it too high for our reach. This is when we must see
ourselves lifted, with Jesus, on the cross, covered with His own blood
and washed clean of our sins by the blood of His Righteousness – His
Own
Right-standing.
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Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain
mercy.
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This realization of our own sin-nature and subsequent cleansing by
Jesus’ blood teaches us that we are graced with God’s own mercy. We
become merciful, loving and forgiving, not by our own self-will, but
because that is God’s will for us. Mercy becomes a gift that is given.
We forgive because we are forgiven, not because a wrong done against us
has been made right. Mercy is an outward manifestation, through us, of
the character of God Himself.
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Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God.
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Now the blessings Jesus speaks there on that mountainside are more
readily and gratefully received when we recall that verse in Psalm 23,
He restoreth my soul. We who have been burdened by sin have been
blessed
with a pure heart. And because we ARE pure in heart, we know that we
shall see God.
Of course, physically, we’re adults. Of course we have memories and
have experienced those things of the world which were expressly
designed
to steal the purity of heart that God intended for us. We have BECOME
pure in heart as we seek the characteristics to be among those who
shall
be blessed.
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Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called
the children of God.
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Then Jesus tells us that those who make peace shall be called the
children of God. The word peace needs to be fully translated and
defined
from the Hebrew language. In Hebrew, Peace is known as Shalom which, in
turn, is a dirivative of the word, Shalem. All these words are related
by the concept of completeness or wholeness. Therefore, when we learn
that peacemakers are blessed by being called the children of God, we
understand that we are to be those who seek to make others whole and
complete, which can only be attained by unity with God. As we see and
find those who are lost, bringing them into God’s presence through our
humble, contrite, and mournful natures, we attain the description of
peacemaker.
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Matthew 5:10-11
Blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are ye, when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say
all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.
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Jesus warns us, in the next two verses, of the persecution we should
come to expect because of these very blessings we actively seek and
receive. He tells us to rejoice and be exceeding glad when this
persecution is directed at us for His sake or for the sake of
righteousness because the prophets before us were persecuted in the
same
way.
We can see then, Jesus’ plan for our lives – from humility to joy. As
we look at each step along the way, we can see just how God has blessed
us. We know that we have the right to claim Heaven as our own. We are
comforted and we own the earth. We are filled with righteousness and we
are forgiven. We will see God and be known as God’s children.
Jesus promises the Kingdom of Heaven and its rewards when we are
persecuted, becoming once again, poor in spirit. In this manner, we are
continually made complete – at peace with God and prepared to do the
Master’s Work.
By the Holy Spirit and to the Glory of God,
Merrellee Moore 3/22/2000
