Sermon On the Mount | MATTHEW 5:10-16 | The Beatitudes:

I.  Introduction:

            Note:  Let me tell you a short story:  There was once a young college student who was asked to speak in his church's youth group during

the summer since he was home from a Christian college.  He deliberately used offensive words and certain annoying phrases that so ticked off the adults

sponsors in the class that later on the pastors had to take the young man to lunch and let him know that they would not allow him to speak in Sunday

School again.  Was the young man upset?  No!!  In some senses it was exciting to "take on the power structure".  

            Q Was that young man suffering for God?

               An = Hardly!  He was reaping the consequences of his actions, but not suffering for the sake of righteousness.  Jesus says:  "Blessed

are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:10).  It is one thing to irritate people because we

are irritating persons and to face insult and persecution because the purity of our lives has struck a nerve.

            Note:  Sometimes folks are offended by us not because of the faith, merely by our poor behavior.  Maybe someone is not rejecting the Bible

but us.  They are not rejecting our words but something about our person, or behavior, or bad breath!

            Q Why was Jesus Christ persecuted and finally tortured to death?

               An = After they have given their answers, then offer what is given below.

            Let me frame an answer to that question with the help of Dorothy Sayers.  

            "The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused Him of being a bore--on the contrary;  they thought Him too dynamic to be

safe.  It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround Him with an atmosphere of tedium.  We have very

efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified Him `meek and mild', and recommended Him as a fitting household pet for pale ministers and

pious old ladies.  To those who knew Him, however, He in no way suggested a milk-and-water person;  they objected to Him as a dangerous firebrand. 

True, He was tender to the unfortunate, patient with honest inquirers, and humble before Heaven;  but He insulted respectable clergymen by calling them

hypocrites;  He referred to King Herod as `that fox';  He went to parties in disreputable company and was looked upon as a `gluttonous man and a

winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners';  He assaulted indignant tradesmen and threw them and their belongings out of the Temple;  He drove a

coach-and-horses through a number of sacrosanct and hoary regulations;  He cured diseases by any means that came handy, with a shocking casualness in

the matter of other people's pigs and property;  He showed no proper deference for wealth or social position;  when confronted with neat dialectical

traps, He displayed a paradoxical humor that affronted serious-minded people, and He retorted by asking disagreeably searching questions that could not

be answered by rule of thumb.  He was emphatically not a dull man in His human lifetime, and if He was God, there can be nothing dull about God either. 

But He had a `daily beauty in His life that made us ugly,' and officialdom felt that the established order of things would be more secure without Him.  So

they did away with God in the name of peace and quietness."

            Note:  Jesus says if we truly follow Him, if we are truly His disciples, then we too will face persecution because of the righteousness of

our lives.

            Q  Is it fair that good people get maligned and hassled?

            Q  Should we be angry when we see terrible things happen to others or ourselves?

               An = Jesus says the proper response is to realize "who these suffering people really are".

>>>>  Turn with me to Revelations 19:5-7.  Let me show you what is going to be sung in heaven;  Have someone read Revelations

19:5-7.

            Note:  Amazing, the amount of joy and exaltation that will take place.

            Q Who is this bride that will excite great praise to be given to God?

               An = The true church, the true believers.  Those who have suffered persecution for Christ, the groom, which God declares them to be

because of their righteousness and loyalty to Him.  The "honors of men" pale in comparison to the honor of being the cause of praise in heaven.  How can I

be part of that coronation?  Hollywood and Political Rallies are small time compared with unending choruses of heaven.  

            Q How do I become part of the real and magnificent celebration of the courts of heaven?

            Q How do we bring about such praise, such glory?  How do we become part of the bride of Christ?

               An = Let them give their answers and carefully note them, and then offer to take a look at Jesus' own words on the subject and ask them

to turn to Matthew 5.

 

II.  Staying Loyal To The King, The Groom:  Matthew 5:10-16.

   A.  Understanding Blessedness:  Matthew 5:11-12.

>>>> Read Matthew 5:10-12.

            Q How do we become blessed?

               An = When men insult us, persecute us, speak falsely all kinds of evil against us because of Him.  I have had plenty of people speak evil

of me, especially around exam time, but what about being hassled and persecuted because I will not disown Jesus Christ!

            Note:  If I am loyal to Him, and I catch it for such loyalty, then Jesus says this is what your attitude should be...Re-read Matthew 5:12.

            When there is a daily beauty about me that convicts others of their sin and I get persecuted, I am to rejoice.  I am to go

bananas!  I am to be crazy with joy, because I have just joined the realm of the "blessed".  I am now like the great prophets of old who spoke the truth

and paid dearly for their loyalty to God.

            Note:  Most of us try to be closet Christians.  It is like the boy who went to work in the logging camps for a summer job and the youth

group prayed for him that his faith would stay strong.  When he came back the group asked him how his summer went.  He replied:  "Great, I had no hassle

at all, no ever even knew I was a Christian".

   B. Staying The Salt Of The Earth:  Matthew 5:13.

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 5:13.

            Q What does salt represent?

               An =  We Christians we not called to melt away in the crowd and just fit in.  We are the salt of the earth.  Salt preserves, salt

seasons, salt can sting....  Jesus was the salt of the earth and the planet has never been the same because He was here.  He did not let religious people

beat up on prostitutes, He did not mind touching the sick, He did not mind associating with "rough crowd".  He did not walk away when innocent people

were brutalized...  He has been the most sane thing, the most beautiful thing that we have ever known and during His life time they said He had

demons and crucified Him.

            "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me."  Jesus says, "blessed

are you when you are like Me".

 

>>>> Have someone re-read Matthew 5:13

            Q What will happen to us if we will not pay that cost according to the end of verse 13?

               An = We will be thrown out, become useless.  Nothing is more insipid than a compromised, closet Christian.  Nothing is more valuable

to your city or work place, or family, than those who will bear anything because of their loyalty to Jesus Christ.

            Note:  It is not optional to be afraid to declare your faith.  You are either worthwhile or you are not.

   C.  Being The Light Of The World:  Matthew 5:14-16.

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 5:14-15.

            RQ What if I got a really good flashlight and turned it on, and then carefully put it in a drawer?

            Q What is the purpose of light according to these two verses?

               An = It is to shine, to be seen and then to help other people see!  If we do not share our faith, if we do not try to let others know the

beauty of Jesus Christ, then we are cheating the world!

            Q  Does this mean that I should go home and irritate all my neighbors and family members with my religious superiority? 

            Q  Does this mean that I should go home and pistole wipe all the folks at work with my Bible! 

            Q  Have you ever done or seen this done?  What were the results? 

            Q  How does one really shine?  

            Q  How does one please our King, so that all heaven will be filled with praise as we near our Maker at the end of time?

               An = I think Jesus tells us in 5:10 but we are so quick to forget that we need to hear it repeated so Jesus graciously does that for us.

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 5:16.

            Q  Do you see it?  How do we let our light shine?

               An = They are to see our "good deeds" and notice what results will take place?  They will praise your Father who is in heaven.  They do

not praise us!

            Q  Have you seen someone else do this lately?  Do not give stories about yourself but about another brother or sister?

            Note:  Remember a few weeks ago we saw that Jesus was the interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount.  We said that He was the acting

out in life, in human form, what He teaches in Matthew chapters 5-7?  Let me end with reading two short vignettes to you from Matthew, chapter 9.

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 9:1-7.

            Q What is the response of the crowd in verse 8?

               An = They gave praise to God!

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 9:32-34.

            Q What is the response to Jesus' act of mercy here?

               An = Here Jesus releases a poor, demented, tortured man, but catches flack!  Jesus was the Light of the World.  He brought clarity,

peace, goodness to all He dealt with.  But remember, they killed Him.  

            Note:  Goodness given to the world comes at a price to those who deliver it.  It will cost but all heaven will resound with joy at the

beauty of our loyalty.

            Q  Where do we get the courage to live like this?