Matthew 5
There are things you need to know when you go to another country. For instance, if I walk into a home in Morocco, I need to be ready to take off my shoes when I walk onto the rug area of the salon. When I eat from a common bowl, I need to use my right hand because the left hand is used for other purposes. When I ask someone who comes to my house if they would like something to drink, I need to ask them three times because well-behaved children are told they must say no the first two times they are asked.
There are some things that are dangerous not to know. I was once on a business trip to Japan and got up to go running early on my first morning in Tokyo. I looked to the left for cars, did not see any and then ran off the curb to cross the street and almost got hit by a car coming from the right. I had forgotten that in Japan the cars drive on the left.
From time to time here in Morocco I see a motorist talking with a policeman. They are yelling at each other, their faces close together, poking fingers into each other’s chest and then after a bit, they smile, shake hands and separate. In the US you do not yell at a policeman, you do not touch a policeman, you do not point a finger or in any way threaten a policeman. If you ever visit the US and try to do this, you will be handcuffed and taken to jail.
Before going to a country, it is always helpful to get a book to read about the cultures and customs of that country so you do not unintentionally offend people and so that your travel will be more pleasant and safe.
As we enter into Matthew 5, we enter into the teaching of Jesus about the rules and customs of another kingdom, the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ teaching is a guide book about the culture and customs of the Kingdom of God.
What is the kingdom of God?
The Kingdom of God is God’s rule of grace in the world, a future period spoken of by the prophets of the Old Testament. In one sense, the Kingdom of God is like the Garden of Eden where we exist with evil fully overcome and where those who live in the kingdom know only happiness, peace and joy. This is the world described in Revelation 21:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
For centuries the Kingdom of God was a future state and then John the Baptist astonished his listeners when he said that the Kingdom of God was at hand in the person of Jesus. (Matthew 3:1-3)
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the desert,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
What the prophets had for so long been saying would come was now at hand. It was no longer some distant future event, it was coming now.
Jesus began his ministry announcing the coming of the Kingdom of God.(Mark 1:14-15)
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
And then Jesus went even further and announced that the kingdom was already present in his ministry. (Matthew 12:28)
But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
John said the Kingdom of God was at hand. Jesus said it was near and then he said it is here now!
When Jesus sent out his disciples to preach, he told them to preach the kingdom of God (Luke 9:1-2)
When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
In Jesus’ confrontations with the demonic, he clearly understood this to be a battle between the prince of this world and the Kingdom of God which was intruding into this world. After sending out the twelve disciples, he sent out the wider circle of seventy two disciples. (Luke 10:17-18)
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
With Jesus came the kingdom of God and with the coming of the kingdom of God the retreat of the devil began.
Take a look at the diagram in your bulletin with two overlapping ovals. This diagram illustrates German theologian Helmut Thielicke’s understanding of the coming of the kingdom of God.
1. The Old Era represents the fallen world from the time of man’s first sin until the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth. The New Era represents essentially and predominantly the Kingdom of heaven on earth, which is mostly yet to come.
2. The Old Era began with the fall and ends when Christ returns. The new Era began with the coming of Jesus and goes on into eternity.
3. Thus these two ages overlap. The overlap began with the coming of Christ and will end when Christ returns. This overlap is the age of the church and is dominated by grace.
4. In this overlap, we are still limited by the Old Era. Satan has been defeated but has not yet been cast into oblivion. Christ has been made King but has not yet been seated on his throne.
5. We are limited by the Old Era and yet are to live in the New Era. This creates the tension in which we live.
6. Thus only a partial fulfillment of the Kingdom ethic is possible. When Jesus taught he moved beyond the Mosaic law to Kingdom law but because we are limited by the Old Era we will not be able to live consistently by the laws of the Kingdom of God. We will fail but failure is not subject to the legal penalties of Kingdom law. We live in this tug and pull between the Old and New Eras and rely on God’s grace.
It is with this understanding that we come to the beatitudes and the rest of Jesus’ teaching.
How are we to understand this teaching of Jesus?
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
We all want to be blessed. So are we supposed to work to be poor in spirit, mourn, be meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, be merciful, be pure in heart, be peacemakers, be persecuted because of righteousness and be insulted because of Jesus? Are we supposed to deliberately put ourselves in situations so that we are persecuted and insulted so we can receive the blessing of God? If someone in our family or circle of friends did not die, are we supposed to go around finding someone who did die so we can mourn their death?
Over the last two thousand years that Christians have struggled with the Beatitudes, there have been different interpretations of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, all of which have tried to push off or minimize this teaching so that it does not have to apply now, so that it is not something I have to do in the here and now.
This morning I want us to take a look at Dallas Willard’s interpretation of the Beatitudes, taken from his book, Divine Conspiracy.
Dallas Willard says it is very important for us to pay attention to the audience Matthew says Jesus had for this teaching. In the verses just preceding the Beatitudes there is a description of what Jesus has been doing.
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
Look at this list of people: ill with various diseases, suffering severe pain, demon-possessed, those having seizures, the paralyzed.
What was life like for these people? Remember that the common view was that illness was the result of sin. Each of these people were blamed for their problem. They were not contributing members of their community. They were not asked to stand and read Scripture at the Synagogue. They were not asked for their wise advice. They were liabilities to their communities. They lived on the fringe of their communities. They did not contribute to the welfare of their community. They begged for a living. They were nobodies.
And Jesus healed them. Jesus demonstrated who he was and what he was inaugurating. “The Kingdom of God has come”, Jesus announced with his ministry of healing. Jesus demonstrated that the Kingdom of God had come and then he went up the side of a mountain and began to put into words when he had just demonstrated.
Dallas Willard uses this context to understand the Beatitudes.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
These are the ones who have no spiritual insight. They are ignorant of the Bible. They can’t pray or lead a service. They have no spiritual insights to offer. Why are they blessed? Because the Kingdom of God has come for them. The Kingdom of God is here to transform them.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
These are the ones who have lost a son or daughter and are paralyzed with grief. These are ones who have lost their life savings in an economic downturn and have no money with which to face old age. These are ones whose spouse has left them for another person. They are blessed because the Kingdom of God has come and can turn their tears into laughter. What has been lost is nothing compared to what will be gained.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
These are the ones who never assert themselves. Ones who always back away from any conflict. These are the doormats of life. They take abuse from others, deserved or not. If they do assert themselves, it is an inappropriate eruption due to repressed anger at having taken it for so long. They are blessed because the whole earth belongs to their heavenly father and he will provide for them what they need.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Longing for righteousness can be a lonely experience. Such people are sometimes called idealists and mocked for their idealism. Bleeding hearts. These people are blessed because they will be filled with a righteousness that will fill the world.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
People who show mercy can be taken advantage of. Worldly wise people call them suckers. In business they are called poor business people. They extend credit where credit should not be extended. They forgive debt at the cost of their own profits. They are always ready to give someone another chance. They are failures in business but they are blessed because the mercy they have shown others is overwhelmed by the mercy that will be shown to them.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
These are the ones who appear to be “too good” for others. They walk around with sweet smiles on their faces. They always say the right thing. They never swear. They look for perfection and they expect perfection. If you slip up, they are sure to notice and point it out to you. You can never relax in their presence. They are blessed because the perfection they seek will be found when they see God face-to-face.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Peacemakers are rarely trusted by either side in a conflict. They are in a lose-lose situation. To resolve the conflict, both sides must give up something they highly value so they distrust the one who attempts to be a peacemaker. They are blessed because the Kingdom of God is a peaceable Kingdom. When they work for peace, they do the work of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
These are ones who suffer because they take a stand for what is right. These are ones who stand up in class and say that the exam had been passed around the day before and suffer the anger and abuse from their classmates afterwards. These are the whistle-blowers who expose corporate sin and cause the corporation to lose money and contracts. They are blessed because they are sustained by God in doing what is right, even at the cost of personal suffering.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
These are the ones who are ridiculed for what they believe. These are the ones who are used as scapegoats for society’s ills. These are the ones who are martyred for their faith. They are blessed because when they suffer, they share in the sufferings of Christ.
The Beatitudes point out that we are blessed, we are all blessed, every person on the face of the planet is blessed because the Kingdom of God is at hand. The Kingdom of God is ready to burst through, straining to burst through into this present age.
Jesus and his disciples passed by a man born blind from birth and his disciples saw a theological question, (John 9:2)
Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
But Jesus saw a man into whose life the Kingdom of God was about to burst and he healed him.
Blessed are those who are born blind because they will see.
The good news of the Beatitudes, the reason why we are blessed, is that there is no entrance exam into the Kingdom of God. There is no need to apply and wait anxiously for your application to be decided upon. You don’t have to be of a proper social class, don’t need to have the right kind of friends, don’t have to wear the right kind of clothes, don’t have to be born of the right kind of parents. You don’t have to be a certain kind of body weight, or height or skin color. You don’t have to look like a magazine model. You don’t have to have ten fingers and toes.
You don’t even have to have lived the right kind of life. You may have been an immoral person taking advantage of any and every person you encountered. You may have murdered and raped. You may have been a child molester. You may have swindled money from elderly people to fatten your own bank account. It does not matter. You are blessed because the Kingdom of God is present with you as is the air you breathe. It is straining to burst into your life to transform you, to bring new kingdom life. There is no person who is without hope.
Blessed are those in the world who are in need and recognize they are in need for the Kingdom of God is coming to them.
The Kingdom of God has been advancing for almost 2000 years. The spiritual battle for the lives of people in this world has been going on for almost 2000 years. In each generation the battle is renewed with those who are born into that generation. It is like a sport’s team. The team can be victorious one season but the next season there is another battle that will take place. With each birth the battle begins anew. In the history of the church, there have been defeats and there have been victories, but the kingdom of God is advancing, steadily advancing with each victory placing another living stone into an eternal building.
Here on earth the church may seem to grow and then weaken. From our earthly perspective it can seem that the church is not making progress, but every victory for the kingdom of God places another stone in the eternal building that cannot be taken away. As we move from generation to generation the kingdom of God steadily grows as each generation of believers take their place in God’s kingdom.
Here is my challenge to you this morning. Are you helping the kingdom of God to advance?
You are blessed because the kingdom of God has come to you. You are blessed because no matter what your circumstance, the kingdom of God has come to you. But are you being a blessing? Are you helping to build the Kingdom of God by being a blessing?
The kingdom of God will advance with or without us. Jesus taught this using this parable. (Mark 4:26-29)
“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
The kingdom of God will advance because God is at work. In this country people are coming to faith because of dreams that are necessary because there is no one else coming to share the good news of the gospel of Christ. The kingdom of God will advance because it is God who is at work.
But one day, sooner rather than later, you will stand before the judgement seat of God and be judged for whether or not you worked for or against the work of God in this world. God will do the work with or without you but will you be judged for having been a blessing or judged for having resisted the work of God?
You are not living for yourself in this world. When you make decisions about how you will live, it is not just your own soul that is at risk. Each of us carries the weight of responsibility for our place in the Kingdom of God.
If you look at the picture of the wall on the bulletin cover, imagine that you are one of the stones in that wall. Take out one of those stones and the wall is weakened. Even small stones carry the weight of that wall.
Normally when we come forward for communion, we focus on the work of Jesus on the cross for us. I still want us to do that this morning but I want us to focus also on the work of God in the world for his kingdom. I want us to come forward with the understanding that we have a part to play in the building of that kingdom. When you make decisions it is not only yourself who will face the consequences. You are part of the living wall being built in the eternal kingdom of God.
Be encouraged that the kingdom of God is advancing, even as we sit here this morning. Take your place in the work of building this kingdom.
