July 15, 2025 • 24 mins
Pastor Lonnie's message introduces a series on the Sermon on the Mount, emphasizing that Jesus’ main message is about spiritual transformation rather than just religious deeds. It urges us to move beyond feelings of defeat and despair into a life filled with spiritual abundance, joy, and purpose. Focusing on Matthew 5:1-12, it explains the Beatitudes and illustrates how happiness often arises from unexpected qualities: humility, mourning, meekness, a hunger for righteousness, mercy, purity, peacemaking, and enduring persecution. These traits, although often conflicting with cultural norms, reveal a deeper joy and meaning.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This morning, we are going to begin a seven week
exploration of the Essential Teachings.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Of Jesus from what is known as his Sermon on
the Mount. It's recorded in Matthew's Gospel, chapter five, six
and seven, and I would.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Encourage you during the next weeks to.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Just pull out your Bible and read Matthew five, six
and seven in your personal devotions, because we're going to
be talking about this creation of the Essential Teachings of
Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount. I just want
to encourage you to read him, and you'll soon find
that these chapters they present and they represent, I would say,
(01:00):
the heart of Jesus's teaching. Many scholars believe that this
wasn't just one sermon, but it was really a collection
of multiple sermons that Jesus preached, and they're formed together
to create this Sermon on the Mound. And each of
these chapters, particularly beginning now with chapter five, as it
(01:25):
represents the heart of Jesus. We are introduced to that
expression beatitude.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Many of you who've.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Heard the beatitudes before, definitely you bust of. And it's
interesting that each of the beatitudes.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I like how Jesus.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Constructed his teaching here, it begins with the word blessed
or blessed. John, you read the reading exactly the way
it should be read according to.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
The English language bless But you know me, any of us,
we add a little bit to that word, don't we.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
We seldom use this word in a kind of a
non religious context. When we think of blessed or blessed,
we're really talking about usually something sacred.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
But when most of us say.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
The word, we don't pronounce it correctly as John did.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
We will use the word blessed blessed.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
And I can't think of any other word that we
doctor it up like that. For instance, I don't say
my hair is messid because I didn't have enough time
to get dressed.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
We don't. But why this word? What is going on? What?
In human language?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
This parable the teaching of Jesus and these beatitudes.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
We want that word to sound a little more religious.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
I think it says something about the desire of our heart.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
That word is from the Greek word.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Marquios, and there really isn't an appropriate word in the
English language that is.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Fully equivalent to that word.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
So scholars have to kind of work around what's the
best way that we can use that word marquills and bless.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
It probably comes more closer than any others. But the
word macuriels.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Can also be translated happy blessed can also be happy.
And so you'll find there's some translations of the Bible
and it doesn't say blessed or blessed, it says happy.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
My mentor Robert.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Schuller published a book called the Be Happy Attitudes. That's
what he called the Beattitudes, be happy Attitudes, their attitudes.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
So I'd like for us to get pragmatic for a
moment here, though, And the reality is you will never
find happiness. I underscore the word find, just.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
As you will never find steal. You have to fashion
it out of rough or and you will never find
a beautiful sculpture or a statue. You have to carve
(04:56):
it out of rough marble. And you never find great music.
You don't just find it. It has to be composed
out of what is the twelve note musical score? Just
twelve notes, just twelve notes, but you have to compose it.
(05:20):
And I think what Jesus is getting at as we
look at these beatitudes this morning, there's something that we
are able to take in his word and not just
find it, but allow it to shape and make us
into something that would be in the imagination of God
for us to be. You don't find happiness, but you
(05:48):
created out of what life gives you. And when we
look at it through that lens, we kind of see
what Jesus is getting at here. Jesus put it this
way in the Sermon on the Mount, And I'd like
(06:08):
to just briefly go over these beatitudes. The first one
blessed or happy. You can insert happy in there are
the poor in spirit?
Speaker 1 (06:24):
For theirs is the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
In other words, the Londi translation of that is andmit
you need God.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Just come to terms with that, admit you need God.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Jesus starts out in this cheating here on the beatitudes
with what I would call a plot twist.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Happy are the spiritually broke. You don't have it.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
He's talking about the honest humili at the very beginning,
at the forefront, the honest humility that says.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
God, I need you, I need you.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I can't do this life thing by myself.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
That's where it begins.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Poor in spirit, it's admitting you're not the CEO of
your soul.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
It's God.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Depending, and Jesus says, that is the very thing that
will open the doors of heaven to you. It's like
finding out that being vulnerable before a holy God, being
(07:55):
vulnerable becomes your.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
V I pass to the Kingdom of God. Wow. So
that's where Jesus begins. Let's work on down him a
little more. The next says, blessed, and a little to mourn.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
They'll be comforted. In other words, let him shape your heart.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Now, when you think about that, you go, what sad
people are blessed? How what are you getting at?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
That seems like an emotional prank, sad people being blessed.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
But Jesus he is onto something here.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
He's talking about the kind of mourning that comes from
being poor in spirit, when you realize how far off
course you've gone. There's a kind of sorrow, a kind
of sorrow that leads to sacred healing. Not guilt trips,
(09:15):
but real cleansing grief, the kind of.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Grief that will lead to healing because it turns you.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Towards the one who can fix what's broken.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
We all know that pain can be really brutal.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Ask anyone who's had a broken heart, hit rock bottom
or lost someone they love. For on the other side
of morning, there is off a depth of compassion and
clarity that you can only see from that side.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
We can only have some gray area understanding of it.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
But when you're grieving like it, you're able to open
the door to a particular.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Kind of healing.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That you cannot get in any other way than realizing
that we should let him shape our hearts. Jesus is
laying it on pretty heavy ending, but he's not done there.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
He continues. He said, blessed are the meek. The meek,
I like this with meek, shall inherit the earth. In
other words, he's.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Saying, use your strength, okay, with gentleness, Use your strength
with gentleness.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
In other words, when you think.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Of the Greek word for meek that's used here, it
is the same word that is used to describe a
horse that.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Has been trained by his master.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Interesting another way of looking when he talks about being
me be like the horse that is trained by the master.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Meekness does not.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Mean weakness, and that's how we tend to look at
that the meek person. Now, Jesus is getting at something
really powerful here. It is essentially it is power, but
it is power under control, strong enough to be gentle,
(11:47):
strong enough to be gentle, strong enough to be tender,
and yet strong enough to be forceful.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
When necessary. Meeting this is all of those things.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
It's like the train horse that knows how to respond
to the master's guidance. Jesus continues, blessed els who hunger
and thirst for righteousness, for they'll be filled. In other words,
(12:28):
chase goodness like it's your last meal.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Okay, have you ever been hungry? I'm sure you have.
We all have.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Okay, you know that, especially one of those irrational rages
when you missed a lunch, or you're you're on a
long drive and it's late at night and everything's closed
and you don't know what to do, and.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
You just kind of crave that. And Jesus is saying, if.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
You want righteousness badly, then crave goodness and justice.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You will be filled with that. And so there's that craving,
that appetite for it.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Moving on quickly here, Jesus goes on then to the
next one blessed or the merciful, for they shall become mercy.
In other words, give mercy, show mercy. I don't know
about you, but some of the happiest people that I know.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Are the ones.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
They'll give others the benefit of the doubt. They'll just
they'll give them the benefit.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Of the doubt.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
They're quick to forgive, they don't keep score.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
And that kind of heart.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Is also strong enough to drop a grudge. So it's
also the art that is willing to give others a break.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
You may be right and they may be wrong. But
keep this in mind.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Fow mercy to others, for in doing so, as Jesus
taught you, heap mercy upon yourself.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
What goes around can come around. And then Jesus also said, Oh,
blessed are the pure in heart.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And of all people, he says, the pure in heart,
they will see God. In other words, purify your heart
from the inside out. Now, purity, it's not perfection, don't
go there. It's certainly not perfection. It's about intention. It's
(15:01):
about the intention that I have of where I want
to go, not that I've achieved.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
It is intention.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
For God is not looking for flawless hearts, because God
would never find a flawless heart. God is looking, i
would say, for clean ones, to clean out some of
the junk hearts that have said I've done enough stuff
(15:29):
that's been a terror. I've done enough stuff that's not
been healthy, that's not been wise, and Lord, I want you.
And here's the crazy part, Jesus, those are the people
when they come to that understanding that they're going to
see a bit of the sacred, they're going to see God,
and then going on to peacemaking. That was part of
(15:50):
Jesus's list.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Listen to the peacemakers, for they will be called sons
of God eastmakers.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I think they're the ones that will walk into a
tense situation and they'll walk into it and they're gonna
build a bridge. They're gonna find some way of reconciling.
They're the ones who don't let the group chat spiral
into chaos.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
They're the ones who say, hey, let's.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Talk this through, let's get our arms around this, let's
work together on this, instead of saying, well, let's.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Just tear each other apart.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
And Jesus said, when you do that, you look like
God's kids.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
What an expression God, sons of God.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
And then the last two it's interesting then Jesus's writing style.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
He actually gives two beatitudes.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
To support each other, one right after the other, and
It's about those who realize.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
That cross bearing for the for the Christ can be painful.
Because he knew what was coming. He knew the cross
was coming, he knew what was his disciples they would
have to go through. Blessed are those who are persecuted.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
And then right then he talks about another parable or
another beatitude that.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Deals with persecution.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
He says, blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you falsely. Okay, say all kinds of evil against you
because of me, Rejoice and be glad, because great is
your reward in heaven for the same way they persecuted.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
The prophets who were before you.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
In other words, stay faithful, even when it's hard and uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Stick with it. Stick with it.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Jesus is straight up saying, if you follow me, people
are going to come after you.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
What a way to build a team.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
That mm hm follow me people, They're gonna they're gonna
come after you. Now, maybe they're not coming after.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Us with pitchforks, but they do come after us and sorts.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I kind of like the contemporary version of that, maybe
with with eyes rolled.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Oh there's that person that that Christian or with rejection
or exclusion and maybe worse. But he also says, hey.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Rejoice, and we need to rejoice because you're in legendary
company when that happens.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
You're with the.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Prophets, you're with the Apostles, you're with the saints.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
And if your faith is costing you something, and Jesus said,
consider that a badge of honor.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Why, honest, you're not weird, even though the apostle Paul says,
sometimes we're fools.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
For people's your what, you your what. You're not weird
for your walking the same road as the Hemros before us.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So to kind of put it together, here's maya to
the point list of the beatitudes, and.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I encourage you, but maybe it's something to be helpful
to you. It is as you put it together. Is
if you look as you go down them. It's the
first one, is is it? Admit you need God.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Let him shape your heart, use your strength with gentleness,
Chase goodness like it's your last meal. Give mercy by
showing mercy, and purify your heart from the inside out.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Bring peace where there's tension, and stay faithful even when
it's hard now I know them. Any ways, I cross
the line this morning.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Because there's a difference between a lecture and a sermon.
The purpose of a lecture is to inform. The purpose
of a sermon is to win a verdict. It's not
(21:29):
coincidental that many persons in seminary were first going into law.
They have to argue a case. And so the purpose
of a servant is are you God's case? I thank
you for your patience that it could be a combination
of lecture and sermon to be informed. But it means
(21:51):
nothing unless we apply it. And so as we've heard
these beatitudes, maybe for the very first time, is it's
in Sunday School, as we've read them and heard reference
to them throughout our lives. May this day, this summer,
(22:12):
as we are informed on what Jesus was about in
his teaching in these chapters of Matthew, may they grip
hold of our hearts and may we be happy, May
we be blessed, or may we be blessed however you
(22:34):
see it, let us pray God.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
We want to thank you for flipping the script.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
On what happiness really is, not this surface level stoff,
but the deep soul joy.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
That only comes from you.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Help us to be honest about our need for You
give us the courage to mourn what's broken in us
and around us, and the faith to believe that you
meet us there with comfort and healing.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Make us strong enough to be meek, bold enough.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
To be merciful, hungry enough to crave what's right, and
humble enough to stay pure.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Teach us to make peace and to use our lives
to build bridges. And when we face push back.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
For following you, remind us that, hey, we're in good company.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
And that you never waste a moment of our pain.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
God, help us to live higher, not louder, not flashier,
not safer, but higher with you in Jesus' name, Amen,
This morning, we are going to begin a seven week
exploration of the Essential Teachings.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Of Jesus from what is known as his Sermon on
the Mount. It's recorded in Matthew's Gospel, chapter five, six
and seven, and I would.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Encourage you during the next weeks to.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Just pull out your Bible and read Matthew five, six
and seven in your personal devotions, because we're going to
be talking about this creation of the Essential Teachings of
Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount. I just want
to encourage you to read him, and you'll soon find
that these chapters they present and they represent, I would say,
(01:00):
the heart of Jesus's teaching. Many scholars believe that this
wasn't just one sermon, but it was really a collection
of multiple sermons that Jesus preached, and they're formed together
to create this Sermon on the Mound. And each of
these chapters, particularly beginning now with chapter five, as it
(01:25):
represents the heart of Jesus. We are introduced to that
expression beatitude.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Many of you who've.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Heard the beatitudes before, definitely you bust of. And it's
interesting that each of the beatitudes.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I like how Jesus.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Constructed his teaching here, it begins with the word blessed
or blessed. John, you read the reading exactly the way
it should be read according to.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
The English language bless But you know me, any of us,
we add a little bit to that word, don't we.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
We seldom use this word in a kind of a
non religious context. When we think of blessed or blessed,
we're really talking about usually something sacred.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
But when most of us say.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
The word, we don't pronounce it correctly as John did.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
We will use the word blessed blessed.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
And I can't think of any other word that we
doctor it up like that. For instance, I don't say
my hair is messid because I didn't have enough time
to get dressed.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
We don't. But why this word? What is going on? What?
In human language?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
This parable the teaching of Jesus and these beatitudes.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
We want that word to sound a little more religious.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
I think it says something about the desire of our heart.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
That word is from the Greek word.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Marquios, and there really isn't an appropriate word in the
English language that is.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Fully equivalent to that word.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
So scholars have to kind of work around what's the
best way that we can use that word marquills and bless.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
It probably comes more closer than any others. But the
word macuriels.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Can also be translated happy blessed can also be happy.
And so you'll find there's some translations of the Bible
and it doesn't say blessed or blessed, it says happy.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
My mentor Robert.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Schuller published a book called the Be Happy Attitudes. That's
what he called the Beattitudes, be happy Attitudes, their attitudes.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
So I'd like for us to get pragmatic for a
moment here, though, And the reality is you will never
find happiness. I underscore the word find, just.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
As you will never find steal. You have to fashion
it out of rough or and you will never find
a beautiful sculpture or a statue. You have to carve
(04:56):
it out of rough marble. And you never find great music.
You don't just find it. It has to be composed
out of what is the twelve note musical score? Just
twelve notes, just twelve notes, but you have to compose it.
(05:20):
And I think what Jesus is getting at as we
look at these beatitudes this morning, there's something that we
are able to take in his word and not just
find it, but allow it to shape and make us
into something that would be in the imagination of God
for us to be. You don't find happiness, but you
(05:48):
created out of what life gives you. And when we
look at it through that lens, we kind of see
what Jesus is getting at here. Jesus put it this
way in the Sermon on the Mount, And I'd like
(06:08):
to just briefly go over these beatitudes. The first one
blessed or happy. You can insert happy in there are
the poor in spirit?
Speaker 1 (06:24):
For theirs is the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
In other words, the Londi translation of that is andmit
you need God.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Just come to terms with that, admit you need God.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Jesus starts out in this cheating here on the beatitudes
with what I would call a plot twist.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Happy are the spiritually broke. You don't have it.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
He's talking about the honest humili at the very beginning,
at the forefront, the honest humility that says.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
God, I need you, I need you.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I can't do this life thing by myself.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
That's where it begins.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Poor in spirit, it's admitting you're not the CEO of
your soul.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
It's God.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Depending, and Jesus says, that is the very thing that
will open the doors of heaven to you. It's like
finding out that being vulnerable before a holy God, being
(07:55):
vulnerable becomes your.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
V I pass to the Kingdom of God. Wow. So
that's where Jesus begins. Let's work on down him a
little more. The next says, blessed, and a little to mourn.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
They'll be comforted. In other words, let him shape your heart.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Now, when you think about that, you go, what sad
people are blessed? How what are you getting at?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
That seems like an emotional prank, sad people being blessed.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
But Jesus he is onto something here.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
He's talking about the kind of mourning that comes from
being poor in spirit, when you realize how far off
course you've gone. There's a kind of sorrow, a kind
of sorrow that leads to sacred healing. Not guilt trips,
(09:15):
but real cleansing grief, the kind of.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Grief that will lead to healing because it turns you.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Towards the one who can fix what's broken.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
We all know that pain can be really brutal.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Ask anyone who's had a broken heart, hit rock bottom
or lost someone they love. For on the other side
of morning, there is off a depth of compassion and
clarity that you can only see from that side.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
We can only have some gray area understanding of it.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
But when you're grieving like it, you're able to open
the door to a particular.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Kind of healing.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That you cannot get in any other way than realizing
that we should let him shape our hearts. Jesus is
laying it on pretty heavy ending, but he's not done there.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
He continues. He said, blessed are the meek. The meek,
I like this with meek, shall inherit the earth. In
other words, he's.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Saying, use your strength, okay, with gentleness, Use your strength
with gentleness.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
In other words, when you think.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Of the Greek word for meek that's used here, it
is the same word that is used to describe a
horse that.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Has been trained by his master.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Interesting another way of looking when he talks about being
me be like the horse that is trained by the master.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Meekness does not.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Mean weakness, and that's how we tend to look at
that the meek person. Now, Jesus is getting at something
really powerful here. It is essentially it is power, but
it is power under control, strong enough to be gentle,
(11:47):
strong enough to be gentle, strong enough to be tender,
and yet strong enough to be forceful.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
When necessary. Meeting this is all of those things.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
It's like the train horse that knows how to respond
to the master's guidance. Jesus continues, blessed els who hunger
and thirst for righteousness, for they'll be filled. In other words,
(12:28):
chase goodness like it's your last meal.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Okay, have you ever been hungry? I'm sure you have.
We all have.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Okay, you know that, especially one of those irrational rages
when you missed a lunch, or you're you're on a
long drive and it's late at night and everything's closed
and you don't know what to do, and.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
You just kind of crave that. And Jesus is saying, if.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
You want righteousness badly, then crave goodness and justice.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You will be filled with that. And so there's that craving,
that appetite for it.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Moving on quickly here, Jesus goes on then to the
next one blessed or the merciful, for they shall become mercy.
In other words, give mercy, show mercy. I don't know
about you, but some of the happiest people that I know.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Are the ones.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
They'll give others the benefit of the doubt. They'll just
they'll give them the benefit.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Of the doubt.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
They're quick to forgive, they don't keep score.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
And that kind of heart.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Is also strong enough to drop a grudge. So it's
also the art that is willing to give others a break.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
You may be right and they may be wrong. But
keep this in mind.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Fow mercy to others, for in doing so, as Jesus
taught you, heap mercy upon yourself.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
What goes around can come around. And then Jesus also said, Oh,
blessed are the pure in heart.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And of all people, he says, the pure in heart,
they will see God. In other words, purify your heart
from the inside out. Now, purity, it's not perfection, don't
go there. It's certainly not perfection. It's about intention. It's
(15:01):
about the intention that I have of where I want
to go, not that I've achieved.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
It is intention.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
For God is not looking for flawless hearts, because God
would never find a flawless heart. God is looking, i
would say, for clean ones, to clean out some of
the junk hearts that have said I've done enough stuff
(15:29):
that's been a terror. I've done enough stuff that's not
been healthy, that's not been wise, and Lord, I want you.
And here's the crazy part, Jesus, those are the people
when they come to that understanding that they're going to
see a bit of the sacred, they're going to see God,
and then going on to peacemaking. That was part of
(15:50):
Jesus's list.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Listen to the peacemakers, for they will be called sons
of God eastmakers.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I think they're the ones that will walk into a
tense situation and they'll walk into it and they're gonna
build a bridge. They're gonna find some way of reconciling.
They're the ones who don't let the group chat spiral
into chaos.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
They're the ones who say, hey, let's.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Talk this through, let's get our arms around this, let's
work together on this, instead of saying, well, let's.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Just tear each other apart.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
And Jesus said, when you do that, you look like
God's kids.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
What an expression God, sons of God.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
And then the last two it's interesting then Jesus's writing style.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
He actually gives two beatitudes.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
To support each other, one right after the other, and
It's about those who realize.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
That cross bearing for the for the Christ can be painful.
Because he knew what was coming. He knew the cross
was coming, he knew what was his disciples they would
have to go through. Blessed are those who are persecuted.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
And then right then he talks about another parable or
another beatitude that.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Deals with persecution.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
He says, blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you falsely. Okay, say all kinds of evil against you
because of me, Rejoice and be glad, because great is
your reward in heaven for the same way they persecuted.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
The prophets who were before you.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
In other words, stay faithful, even when it's hard and uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Stick with it. Stick with it.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Jesus is straight up saying, if you follow me, people
are going to come after you.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
What a way to build a team.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
That mm hm follow me people, They're gonna they're gonna
come after you. Now, maybe they're not coming after.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Us with pitchforks, but they do come after us and sorts.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I kind of like the contemporary version of that, maybe
with with eyes rolled.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Oh there's that person that that Christian or with rejection
or exclusion and maybe worse. But he also says, hey.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Rejoice, and we need to rejoice because you're in legendary
company when that happens.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
You're with the.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Prophets, you're with the Apostles, you're with the saints.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
And if your faith is costing you something, and Jesus said,
consider that a badge of honor.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Why, honest, you're not weird, even though the apostle Paul says,
sometimes we're fools.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
For people's your what, you your what. You're not weird
for your walking the same road as the Hemros before us.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So to kind of put it together, here's maya to
the point list of the beatitudes, and.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I encourage you, but maybe it's something to be helpful
to you. It is as you put it together. Is
if you look as you go down them. It's the
first one, is is it? Admit you need God.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Let him shape your heart, use your strength with gentleness,
Chase goodness like it's your last meal. Give mercy by
showing mercy, and purify your heart from the inside out.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Bring peace where there's tension, and stay faithful even when
it's hard now I know them. Any ways, I cross
the line this morning.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Because there's a difference between a lecture and a sermon.
The purpose of a lecture is to inform. The purpose
of a sermon is to win a verdict. It's not
(21:29):
coincidental that many persons in seminary were first going into law.
They have to argue a case. And so the purpose
of a servant is are you God's case? I thank
you for your patience that it could be a combination
of lecture and sermon to be informed. But it means
(21:51):
nothing unless we apply it. And so as we've heard
these beatitudes, maybe for the very first time, is it's
in Sunday School, as we've read them and heard reference
to them throughout our lives. May this day, this summer,
(22:12):
as we are informed on what Jesus was about in
his teaching in these chapters of Matthew, may they grip
hold of our hearts and may we be happy, May
we be blessed, or may we be blessed however you
(22:34):
see it, let us pray God.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
We want to thank you for flipping the script.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
On what happiness really is, not this surface level stoff,
but the deep soul joy.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
That only comes from you.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Help us to be honest about our need for You
give us the courage to mourn what's broken in us
and around us, and the faith to believe that you
meet us there with comfort and healing.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Make us strong enough to be meek, bold enough.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
To be merciful, hungry enough to crave what's right, and
humble enough to stay pure.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Teach us to make peace and to use our lives
to build bridges. And when we face push back.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
For following you, remind us that, hey, we're in good company.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
And that you never waste a moment of our pain.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
God, help us to live higher, not louder, not flashier,
not safer, but higher with you in Jesus' name, Amen,
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