Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 1

• Matthew has combined a couple of events here into one statement that Luke gives us a bit more on. According to Luke Chapter 6, Jesus had left the multitudes and spent all night in continual prayer and when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself and out of all that came, he chose twelve and they are all names in Luke 6:14-16.
• Then he drew near to the multitudes again and folks from all over came to hear this sermon. Many of you know this as the Sermon on the Mount. This is unlike any sermon given before it or any sermon given after Jesus’ earthly ministry. This one is special. Why? Because this is the truth of God being given BY the Person of God. See what I’m saying?

• He had just called out by name His disciples, (Luke said He also called them apostles), and now here’s what they need to know…this is major. I’ve heard the Sermon on the Mount called by a different title and I like it. The Character of Kingdom Citizens. Not so much what to do and what not to do. That’s a sermon for non-disciples…disciples of Christ simply display character. Integrity. They just are a certain way because the Holy Spirit has changed them from the inside out…Character is not a decision today to do right. It is a propensity to walk uprightly and a consistency to do so…

• I like that title. The Character of Kingdom Citizens. Interestingly enough, actually quite surprising to me…the word “disciple” is used 271 times in the Bible. Only once in the Old Testament…Isaiah 8:16…and the rest of 270 times throughout the Gospels and Acts. The word disciple is not used anywhere else…after that the word bondservant or better put, “slave,” is used to describe those that followed Jesus…I tell you what, the world hates that and the ‘Merican church doesn’t like it either but the lover of Jesus, the one that has really encountered Him personally….that title is just fine…

• (And you know what…you never quite know if you are a bondservant of Christ, a willing and loving slave of Jesus, until you’re treated like one…then you find out…)

Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 2

• The implication to me is that Jesus taught very much without opening His mouth…but this “them,” according to Luke, is indeed His disciples. Luke says in Luke 6:20, “Then He lifted up His eyes towards His disciples…”   I love this. This most powerful and once-in-a-creation sermon as the truth of God relevant to the Character of Kingdom Citizens comes forth from the Person of God…to the disciples of God…

Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 3

• We are going to hear this word “blessed” over and over again and I want you to know truly what that means. That doesn’t mean you have the most toys or the best health or the best genetics for fabletics! HA! It doesn’t mean that you have the best mood today. How are you today brother? Oh I’m blessed…we hear that and associate the answer with circumstance or attitude. But that’s not what is meant here. Obviously because Jesus is going to say blessed is being poor, blessed is mourning, blessed is being hungry and thirsty…so what’s really going on here?
• Blessed means most literally joyous! Filled with joy. Strengthened with joy. To be approved by God and confirmed by His Spirit. To be free, above this world and its circumstance. Liberated from the power and control of sin and alive unto God! Truly, if you don’t know the Lord, you’ve never known what it is to be blessed…
• Jesus begins with blessed are the poor in spirit. This is not a person confessing that by nature he or she is without value or is insignificant because that’s simply not true. Tell that to God and you will receive quick calibration of the cross…what you cost Him. Instead this is a core OS confession and realization that we are broken and sinful and without moral virtues adequate to commend us to God.
• This doesn’t come about by self-hatred but rather by the Spirit revealing truth to our hearts. It is to understand that we are lost and yet with God we are entirely found! (Every situation) I love the result by the way…theirs is the kingdom of Heaven…This word “theirs” is emphatic in the Greek and so it could be read, “theirs’ alone!” And what is heaven other than a place? The dwelling of God? It is the seat of order of all things eternal and consummately perfect.
• You want your life to be in order? You want the joy of a life entirely aligned with all things eternal? Have you humbled yourself to God? Have you surrendered your LIFE to Him? I love this idea…order and alignment…it’s theirs. Whose? Those who are poor in spirit. They’re blessed. Not “shall be blessed” or “have been blessed.” Blessed…
• This one is first because it is where we start with God. If we start with pure in heart then we are liars. If we start with persecution then we will be losers. We will fall away. Everyone starts here. Spurgeon said, “Not what I have, but what I have not, is the first point of contact between my soul and God.”
• No one mourns until they are poor in spirit. No one is meek until they are poor in spirit. No one hungers and thirsts for righteousness until they are poor in spirit. No one is merciful, pure in heart or a peacemaker until they are poor in spirit and NO ONE rejoices in persecution until they are poor in spirit!

• This mourning is deep grief. Not just the mourning over the sinful state but the attitude-altering action-packed mourning over the effects of sin!

• Meekness is a powerful personality properly controlled by the power of truth. Humility reigns…poor in spirit is their DNA and yet they are fierce as lions in character, charisma, capacity and capability! But the will of God is not only front and center, it is their habitual course of decision. Inherit the earth…look, the meek ones will never end up on the short end of the deal…no matter the physical outcome…never!
• The desire of one that is poor in spirit, mourning even over the effects of their own sin and walking in meekness? Righteousness! You see it all starts with brokenness…Blessed are those that are poor in spirit…folks that consider the cross, consider the King and approach Him in humility finding out how He truly is All in All…brokenness is the position of faith…and yet in Him, what’s broken becomes beautiful…what was lost becomes found…what was weak becomes strong…what was lacking, simply fills up…and what was dead, becomes life…