Spare Change

The Beatitudes: The Original Introduction

Posted by Bryan

Consider for a moment two generations of godly men. On one hand there is David, and on the other there is his son Solomon. David was a murderer, an adulterer, the ruler over a kingdom in chaos. Solomon, though, was rich, wise, and a builder of God's temple. Ironically, David is today revered and honored while Solomon at best gets an offhand reference or two, such as the one found in Matthew 11:28-29:

So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Why is David known as a man after God's own heart, and why is Solomon known as a man brought to ruin in his latter years? The truth is found in their own words.

David:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever. (Psalm 23:6)

Solomon:

And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind. (Ecclesiastes. 1:17)

God identifies you not on your performance in His name, but for your commitment to pursuing Him. This is well illustrated in Christ's sermon on a Galilean mountainside where Jesus preached to the multitudes.

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then 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 filled. Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain 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 they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

With each promise to each group, Jesus calls out, "I love you." In the beatitudes, you can see the essence of Jesus. In the beatitudes, you see the mission of david. You can see that a life well-lived focuses upon whose you are rather than how you are.

This is a concept that people almost universally confuse. So many folks get so wrapped up in the struggle of "how to be" that they miss out on the blessing of "whose to be."

There was a night several years ago that was like many I've been blessed to experience. I was working at home doing Bible study and it was Kaylyn's time for bed. And she came to kiss me goodnight. After kissing me goodnight, she climbed up on my lap and just cuddled there with me. That's when it hit me. I remember looking into her big blue eyes and asking her to verify my epiphany. "You just want to be with daddy, don't you?"

"Yes sir," she said, nestling into my arms.

God gives the beautiful attitudes of Matthew 5 so you can learn to just desire to be with your daddy in heaven.

The verses immediately before the beatitudes confirm this notion. 4:23-5:2. Jesus had been busy about his work, preaching, teaching, healing. He had gained a large following, what the Bible calls "a multitude." The Greek word for this is ochlos, which by implication means "the rabble." He had been about the Father's business and had drawn a throng of rabble, of misfits. And then, as 5:1 says, it was seeing the mass of misfits that compelled him to stop the work, and tell them, "I love you."

Look at who Jesus addressed. They were the sick. They were filled with diseases (physical ailments) and torments (mental and emotional ailments). He met a mass of people and healed them all.

Can you identify with these folks? For one reason or another, you are here today, and it is not by coincidence or by accident. And you are in only one of two possible situations: either you have a disease or torment, or you have been healed of a disease or a torment.

Everyone comes to Jesus at the point of recognizing that they are a misfit because apart from him you are unable to reconcile your relationship with your Creator. Some people have to lose everything to get to that point. Others have to accomplish or gain everything and still be unsatisfied to realize it. Regardless, friend, everyone is a misfit apart from Christ. If it were not so, Jesus never would have bothered ministering to the rich young ruler, to Nicodemus, to Mary, Martha and Lazarus, or to Joseph of Arimethea. Everyone needs what God has to offer through Jesus Christ.

When Jesus saw them, He was moved. He basically said, "Blessed are you when you are as you are... right now."

This is important because He tells the blessings of brokenness, of contriteness, of awareness of one's total inability and ineptitude.

Here, Jesus preaches a message of eternal blessings in the context of present blight. This is why the beatitudes have confounded so many over so much time and why some today want to make the message of Jesus a social gospel. This is why skeptics and heretics want to take the deity away from Jesus and water down the truth of His good news.

People throughout the generations have struggled with the problem of poverty. Typically, they respond to it either by attempting to romanticize it or vilify it. Accordingly, people will either try to allegorize the beatitudes or to simplify them, whichever strategy will help them in their own reaction to the problems of poverty, injustice, and sickness in the world.

Today, people are no different. Many Christians never deny that they came to faith in Christ just as did the people of the multitudes, but then they spend the rest of their lives either trying to escape their lot in life, or to wear it like a badge.

There are three categories of Christians in this world, for the sake of this line of thought:

• There are those who are saved by grace and realize it and spend the rest of their life living in that grace.


• There are those who are saved by grace and then spend the rest of their lives living like they are better than those who have not received that grace.


• There are people who are guilty of the opposite extreme - of taking abasement as a source for personal pride

Most people start out at the right spot, appreciating God's deep, perfect love. Rather than staying where the blessing is, they migrate to one of two extremes that say the exact same thing in opposite ways: "It is not about God, it is about me!"

Jesus looked upon the multitudes of misfits and He was moved. He was so moved He did today something that many people would probably find offensive, but in that day, was seen as authoritative. He sat down. Today, when you have something important to say, you stand up. Back then, when a rabbi taught or spoke standing up, it was seen as informal or casual. For Jesus to sit down, it meant that he meant business, and you better pay attention.

Jesus wanted their attention. He wanted their ears so He sat down. And as the scriptures reveal, He taught them. He didn't refer to anyone else. He didn't defer to another rabbi, to another text, to another lesson. He spoke the Words that He had authored before time began, without using notes or references, and He taught with the authority of One who authored the text, as compared to one who is just well-read on a subject.

God loves you with a consuming love and He is absolutely consumed with you loving Him.

Spend some time with your heavenly Father as He shows what it means to have a beautiful attitude. Sit in the audience of Jesus as He explains what it means to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be pure in heart, to be peacemakers, to be persecuted for righteousness' sake, and to be reviled. Discover in an increasing and ongoing that Jesus says, "Blessed are you when…" He is really saying, "I love you when…"

June 11, 2007 12:20 PM | TrackBack