Matthew 5:1-12

What is it that makes you happy? A legitimate way to understand "blessed" in this passage is "happy" - to be content and to know the goodness of God. The Jesus way isn't always intuitive to us but it is always good and produces richness in us. 

Transcript

Tempo: 120.0

SPEAKER_00 0:22

All right then, what is it that makes you happy? If you were to make a list of, say, five or maybe ten things, what would make it onto the list? What are the things that you get excited about, the things that you tend to pursue, the things that that are just they're they're just a delight, they're like postcards from heaven for you. In that very, very famous preamble to the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson writes this we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now in that declaration, there's no guarantee of those kinds of things, but it is that proposal that government needs to stay out of the way of those kinds of pursuits. And while this is a very American beginning to our time together, I think that it actually applies really, really well to all of us, regardless of citizenship or where we happen to be living. So let me circle this back. How are you using that certain unalienable right? How are you pursuing happiness? We're in Matthew chapter 5, verses 1 through 12. It's the Beatitudes, again, another very, very famous passage of literature. And in this case, it's divine, it's holy, it's the words of Jesus. And so we're going to take a moment now to pray and then get into the text together. So if you have a copy of the Word of God, go ahead and grab that. It'll help you along the way, and we'll get into the Word together. Jesus, thank you so much that you care about each and every one of us. Thank you that you desire good things for our lives, and that you care about who we are, who we are becoming. God we're here to meet with you, so would you meet with us? Amen. All right. Matthew five, starting at verse one. Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them. He said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Go ahead and take a moment and listen to God before you listen to me. It's perfectly fine to go ahead and pause the video or the podcast and to just kind of take a take a moment. Let's take some time now and observe the text together. There's a lot in that short text, but let's let's observe, let's sit at the feet of the good teacher, which is Jesus, by the way, and take this in together. Now the first thing I wanted to bring to our attention is what's not on this list. Now, I've known about the Beatitudes for a really long time, and I kind of anticipate, even like before they're read, I anticipate those words coming up. So I'm kind of in that spot, and maybe you are too, where you just kind of know, okay, well, this is what's going to be talked about, and so we we expect what's coming. I think that makes sense. But if you're coming at this with fresher eyes, or with our Western culture's treasures in mind, the things that seem to be elevated in our culture at large. And I don't just mean culture like out there, I think it's actually present in in believers' lives as well. You might notice what's missing from this list. Here's what I came up with. And I kind of tried to stay away from the things that were like obvious, you know, no-nos in our in our world, but but just listen. So what what is it that brings us happiness? Well, I went with health, wealth, education, beauty, sex, being well liked by everyone, or at least most people. I think if we're honest with ourselves, we recognize that all of those things, and there might be more that uh that are coming to your mind, but all of those things are are good things. If you are experiencing health, that you shouldn't despise that, right? If you have means that you that you have rejoice in that. But is that supposed to be like the source or the thing that we pursue? Is that what's supposed to be there? Because they're not on Jesus' list. And and it's just it's just something to notice along the way. Let's move into the to the actual teaching here. And the first two beatitudes, the first two blesseds, and by the way, I know that you can say it blessed or blessed. I just feel like when we read this part, you're supposed to say blessed, whatever. So the first two, blessed are the poor in spirit, and blessed are those who mourn, seem to be, and I'm not trying to make an unnecessary distinction here, but they seem to be things that are maybe a little bit more circumstantial or temporary in their nature. For example, I I have been poor in spirit. I have felt broken down or just down, right? Like that moment when you just, I'm like, man, nothing is going right. Life is really hard right now. And and so there's this word of comfort there. When you're poor in spirit, you can recognize your need for Christ. And then the the second one there, blessed are those who mourn. Well, I've certainly gone through periods of mourning, of grieving those who have passed on, and and that's that's difficult. But I wouldn't describe my life as an ongoing expression of mourning. But when that does happen, we can experience the comfort of God. And and then we move on to the next five. And in these, to me, I I see things that I can be. Not that I always am, but things that I can be, or even can be doing in an ongoing way. They can be patterns in my life. I can always choose meekness. By the way, meekness is certainly not weakness, even though they rhyme, but it is gentleness or this sense of restraint. There's you have agency, you have some level of autonomy and and choice in the matter, but but you choose restraint. And in this case, it's restraint because of trust in God. It's this choice that we make where we go, I'm not going to take this matter into my own hands because I believe that God is the one who should and will and rightly should take care of the of the thing. So I can always choose meekness. I can be thirsty for righteousness. In fact, I hope that I always am. I can be merciful, I can be pure in heart, I can facilitate peace. You see what I'm saying? Like those can be things that that mark us as believers. And then we get to that last one, and and it's to be persecuted because of righteousness, to be persecuted because of Jesus. The reason why? Not for anything that we would experience in this lifetime on earth, like so it's not for a sense of, hey, if you get persecuted, then you know you'll get you'll get something good, you know, in this lifetime. It really doesn't suggest that at all, but it suggests that the reward in heaven is worth it, that we'll be honored, that will be counted among people like the prophets who were also persecuted. This is about as far away from instant gratification as we can get. So let's take a few moments now and just hang out with with this. And I wanted to just start with like it's honesty time and and coming back again, and you're probably gonna be thinking, well, this guy just ever let this go. But how does your happiness list match with God's? And and when I say it's honesty time, I think that that we're when we're in this environment, you know, I'm sitting here recording this, you're uh watching it whenever you're watching it or listening to it whenever you're listening to it. If we're in that space, then then there can be that expected answer. Like we can go, like, oh, well, yeah, what really makes me happy? And we kind of maybe filter that list a little bit, but just that opportunity for us to really, really be open and honest. If we can't be open and honest with ourselves, then then we're we're struggling, right? Like we're we're having a hard time with life. If we can't be open and honest with God, we have really, really significant problems. So that's the invitation there. Just no one else needs to know about it, but just be open and honest with God and then just go, well, how does my my list, how does my pursuit of happiness match with the things that Jesus talks about? Are they, you know, they may not match exactly or whatever, but but do they resemble each other? Is there kind of that connecting point? And and it's just an invitation to sit, you know, sit with that. I I've been sitting with that idea this morning and just going, man, Tim, like what what is this all about, this life all about for you? And then secondly and and lastly here, just take a breath. You know, whenever we come across a teaching like this, and it it's a similar thing happens, I think, when we look at the fruit of the spirit in Galatians, but we can look at all of these different traits or these things that that we're supposed to consider as being blessed and or or happy in that sense. What we can get all worked up about it, can't we? We can get to that place where we we think, well, oh, and we start to like compare ourselves. I have this, but I don't have that. And I don't think anyone fully embodies all of these traits, but we can ask God. For example, if you feel like you have a divided heart or a distracted heart, or even a wandering, lust-filled heart, you can ask God for a pure one. You don't have to remain as you are. Part of the joy of walking with Jesus, of following him is that when we recognize something that's either deficient in our lives or or maybe absent altogether, we don't need to remain in that place. We can come to him and just say, Lord, I I just recognize that the things that you say should bring about this sense of joy, this blessedness, this happiness, this delight. It's not present in my life, but I want it to be. Would you fill me with that? Would you help me overcome this struggle? And would you help me to live fully and completely for you? I hope that that encourages you and that you take something away from our time together, but more importantly from your time with God together throughout the rest of your day, however long that might be. Let's pray. Jesus in heaven, thank you that you always point us to truth. Thank you that you care about the contents of our hearts, and that you actually do care about ultimate happiness and ultimate peace. God, would you be our strength today? Amen.