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.” (Matthew 5:1-12 NIV)
My great-great grandfather came to the United States from Norway. Do you what Norway is like? It’s absolutely beautiful. There are stunning mountains everywhere. Steep cliffs and valleys. Fjords cut channels from the ocean to the land. When my great-great grandfather left Norway, he ended up in Iowa. When he got to Iowa, do you know what he said? He looked around and said, “I’ve never seen such a beautiful place.” When I heard that story, I thought, “What? Iowa?” Have you been there? Beautiful? Yes! To that Norwegian farmer, nothing was more beautiful than flat land. To him, Iowa was utterly amazing! It’s funny how perspective works, isn’t it? To a farmer from the mountains, nothing was more beautiful than flat plains.
Perspective matters. In fact, your perspective colors everything you see in life. Here’s an example: We tend to look at life like a pyramid. If life is like a pyramid, where on the pyramid do we want to be? At the top, right? Everybody wants to be at the top. It doesn’t matter who you are. Sports teams want to win championships. Business people want the most successful businesses. Politicians want the most power. Parents want the best kids. Isn’t this our perspective on life? By nature, we look at life like a pyramid, and we make life a fight to get to the top!
And Jesus turns all that upside-down. Jesus has a completely different perspective on life. Jesus takes that pyramid, flips it upside-down, and says, “Do you know the best place? It’s not at the top. It’s at the bottom.” Huh? Jesus’ whole life, from his birth in a manger to his death on a cross, flipped everything upside-down. And not just for Jesus. For you and me. At the start of his ministry, Jesus preached his most famous sermon: The Sermon on the Mount. It starts with these upside-down words: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
And we say, “Huh? Blessed are the poor in spirit?” That goes against our perspective on life. Maybe people were different back then. Maybe people looked at life differently. No, they didn’t! In Jesus’ day, do you know who was considered blessed? The rich and the powerful. Sound familiar? In Jesus’ day, if you were poor, you were considered rejected by God. Jesus turned that perspective upside-down. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Notice that Jesus isn’t talking about money. There are rich and poor believers in Jesus. He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” What does that mean? When Martin Luther died, they found a piece of paper in his pocket. Can you guess what that piece of paper said? Wir sind alle Bettler. That means, “We are all beggars.” That’s what Martin Luther carried around in his pocket, “We are all beggars.” What do you think he meant? We bring nothing to God. We bring nothing to God but our sins. We are all beggars. Are you ready to admit that? Then you’re poor in spirit.
And do you know what Jesus says? You’re blessed! Being poor means to be fall completely on God’s grace. If you are forced to depend on God for everything, do you know what you are? Blessed. Because that is the essence of faith. God’s kingdom doesn’t come to the rich or the powerful or the strong or the good or the impressive or the beautiful. It’s a gift. The kingdom of heaven is a gift. It comes to those who are poor in spirit. Who can do nothing but fall completely on God’s grace. If you’re going to follow Jesus, Jesus has an upside-down perspective on life.
He says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” That sounds wrong, doesn’t it? Blessed to mourn? Our first thought is to think of eternal life in heaven. That’s our ultimate comfort. Those who believe in Jesus have eternal life! But that doesn’t seem to be what Jesus is talking about here. He’s talking about the mourning of a Christian who looks at the world and mourns the sin and the unbelief he sees. If that kind of mourning fills your soul, you are blessed. Why? You will be comforted. I read a poem lately that ended: “Sorrows come to stretch out spaces in the heart for joy.” “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
Are you starting to see Jesus’ upside-down perspective? “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” That sounds strange! The meek? Who on earth wants to be meek? Meek people get trampled. All of us know we want to be strong. We’re supposed to be strong. Life is all about being strong, right? “You can do it!” Not in Jesus’ kingdom. God’s blessings aren’t a reward for the strong. They are a gift for the meek. The humble and gentle will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” All of us seek after something. What do you hunger for? Money? Glory? Praise? Beauty? Know what the Bible says? You will never be filled. You can eat all you want, you can have all the beauty in the world, you can possess more money than anybody else, but you will never be filled. Unless you hunger for righteousness. Later in this same Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (6:33). Want to be filled? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
Here’s how you know if your heart is filled: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” A heart filled with God’s grace will be full of grace to others. The more we struggle to be merciful to others, the less we’re filled with God’s grace. You can’t rejoice in God’s mercy and forgiveness to you, and then go out and be angry and cruel to everybody else. How could we? Later in this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
Are you catching on? This is all so important. Jesus changes our perspective on life. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” It’s almost laughable, isn’t it? Pure? Who wants to be pure anymore? “You got to try sin out, right? You’ve got to sin to really experience life! Purity? Hah!” Do you see how different we are than Jesus? King David prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). “Blessed are the pure.”
Jesus keeps going: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” You ever see those t-shirts that say, “Keep calm and…”? Like, “Keep calm and drink coffee.” I think the most accurate one I’ve seen said, “Keep calm and plot revenge.” Isn’t that how we operate? “Don’t let anybody push you around. You got to own the other side.” Later in this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also…. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:39,44). Christians are to be different. So different. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
In fact, “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.” “Jesus, how is that good? How is that blessed?” Here’s how: “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Even when people drag your name through the mud, you’re blessed. Because that’s what they did to Isaiah. And Jeremiah. And Elijah. And Elisha. And Jesus! From his very first sermon, Jesus flips our perspective upside-down.
This is hard. There are a lot of theologians today who completely dismiss this Sermon on the Mount. They say, “It’s so unrealistic. Nobody is like that. Nobody can do that. It’s impossible.” Do you know what? They’re right. Who is like this? I’m not. Are you? All of us sin against all of this. So why does Jesus teach this? Remember where we started? The first phrase? “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” If we’re going to be right with God, what do we need to bring to the table? Nothing. We bring God nothing but our sins. “We are all beggars!” Being blessed starts with coming to God with nothing and finding everything in Jesus.
Because you find everything in Jesus. Jesus mourned. “How often I have longed to gather you, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37). Meek? Do you know the only person in the book of Matthew described as meek? Jesus. “See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Matthew 21:5). Righteous? All the Jewish leaders spent an entire night trying to find one thing to accuse Jesus of. What did they find? Nothing. Merciful? Where do we start? “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). All of this is Jesus. Our Savior didn’t come to put himself at the top. He came to put himself at the bottom, so he could save us.
Especially this: “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Jesus is the ultimate peacemaker. He made peace between us and God. How? By dying for our sins on the cross. The Bible promises, “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). This is the foundation for everything the Bible says. This is the foundation for Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He’s talking to his disciples. To believers in him. What we aren’t, God makes us through Jesus. What we can’t, God does in us through Jesus. Jesus makes you pure. Jesus makes you merciful. Jesus makes you strong. Jesus comforts you. Jesus saves you.
Jesus changes you. Jesus changes your heart. Jesus changes your life. Jesus changes your perspective. You can’t hear Jesus speak and walk out of here thinking you’re special because of your money or your looks. It’s all God’s grace. You also can’t walk out of here feeling sorry for yourself. You know God’s grace! Jesus changes your perspective on everything. “Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are persecuted.” When you have nothing, when you’re poor, when you’re thrown onto the grace of God in Jesus, that’s when you have everything.
At a former church, there was a young tree on the boulevard in front of our church. It wasn’t straight. In fact, it flopped around. Whenever there was wind, the tree would blow this way and that. I asked somebody about it. He said, “This is what makes it stronger. Every storm forces that tree to put down its roots deeper into the ground.” That’s true for a tree. That’s true for you and me. What we need most isn’t more success or more money. What we need is more storms, so that our roots grow deeper and deeper into the only one who saves us: Jesus. If life seems upside-down, it’s because it is. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.”
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