Approved by God

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Approved by God

• Matthew 53-5

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Approved by God

• Our Christian faith begins with our personal,
  inner life.
• Jesus lived in a time when Jewish religious rites
  and outward ceremonies were thought to be more
  important than inner thoughts and the heart.
• Deut. 65 Love the LORD your God with all your
  heart and with all your soul and with all your
  strength.
• Ceremonies had become the essence of the Jewish
  religion.
• Jesus taught that the essence of true religion is
  the heart.
• beatitudes
• Blessed are...

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1) BLESSING

• Mt.53-5 Blessed are...
• To be blessed means to be approved.
• Blessing can be from God or it can be directed
  toward God.
• When we humans bless God, we are approving God.
• When we praise God we are, in the Biblical
  understanding, blessing God.
• When God blesses us, he is approving us.
• The beatitudes of Mt.5, then, teach us about
  receiving Gods blessing or approval.

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2) KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

• Mt.53 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
  theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• The kingdom of heaven is the theme of Jesus
  sermon on the mount.
• The phrase kingdom of heaven and kingdom of
  God are interchangeable in the NT.
• When pious Jews spoke or wrote they avoided using
  the word God.
• The Jews of Jesus day developed several ways to
  work around this problem.

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2) KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

• One way was to substitute another word for the
  word God.
• The word heaven was used to mean God in
  phrases such as kingdom of heaven.
• Another language trick was frequently used to
  talk about God without using the word God.
• ...they will be comforted.
• The passive voice begs the question of who is
  doing the comforting.
• God is the one who will do the comforting.

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3) NATURE OF THE KINGDOM

• What is the kingdom like?
• 3.1) The kingdom is Gods dynamic reign
• The kingdom has more to do with Gods dynamic
  reign than with any particular geographic
  markers.
• The emphasis of the word kingdom is upon God
  who reigns within the personal and dynamic world
  of humans.
• The kingdom is Gods kingdom.
• We cannot build it or strengthen it, because it
  is not our to strengthen or build.

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3) NATURE OF THE KINGDOM

• Various dynamic and relational verbs are used
  with the word kingdom
• enter, receive, seek, see, wait for, preach,
  proclaim, speak about, declare, inherit...
• 3.2) The kingdom has two dimensions
• The reign of God is universal.
• This is the broad dimension of the kingdom of
  God.
• In the sermon on the mount, only certain people
  enter the kingdom.

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3) NATURE OF THE KINGDOM

• This narrower dimension of the kingdom can be
  understood as a subset of the broader, universal
  dimension of the kingdom.
• This narrow dimension of the kingdom can be
  called life.
• Mk.945 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut
  it off. It is better for you to enter life
  crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into
  hell.
• Mk.947 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck
  it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom
  of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be
  thrown into hell...

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3) NATURE OF THE KINGDOM

• These two verses mean the same thing by the words
  life and kingdom.
• The sermon on the mount is about entering this
  narrower dimension of the kingdom.
• Jesus sermon is about entering life itself.
• 3.3) The kingdom has two tenses
• There is an already and a not yet aspect of
  the kingdom.
• Mt.1228 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit
  of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon
  you.
• But the kingdom has a future point of final
  fulfillment.

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3) NATURE OF THE KINGDOM

• Rom. 818-21 (18) I consider that our present
  sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory
  that will be revealed in us. (19) The creation
  waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to
  be revealed. (20) For the creation was subjected
  to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the
  will of the one who subjected it, in hope (21)
  that the creation itself will be liberated from
  its bondage to decay and will be brought into
  the glorious freedom of the children of God.
• What Paul is writing about here is the future
  life which awaits those who believe in Jesus.

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3) NATURE OF THE KINGDOM

• So we who have already entered the narrower
  kingdom, have not yet seen the full glory of God
  which will be revealed in the future.
• Our eternal life and salvation are already given
  to us, but there are aspects of that eternal life
  that are not yet known to us.
• The kingdom of God is in some ways already here.
  But in its fullest sense it is not yet here.
• So the kingdom has two tenses the already and
  the not yet.

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3) NATURE OF THE KINGDOM

• Todays passage teaches that we enter this
  dynamic, God initiated, life giving, both present
  and future oriented, kingdom through pathways we
  would not normally expect to find blessing.
• God blesses us and approves us for entry into his
  kingdom when we are poor, sorrowful, and meek.

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4) POOR IN SPIRIT

• Mt.53 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
  theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• To be poor in spirit means to acknowledge our
  spiritual bankruptcy.
• Once we admit this spiritual bankruptcy or
  inadequacy, we are ready for God to fill us with
  his spiritual riches.
• This first beatitude seems to be an introduction
  to the rest of Jesus sermon on the mount which
  seems designed to make us admit that we are
  indeed spiritually poor.

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4) POOR IN SPIRIT

• I am both attracted to these three chapters in
  Matthew and at the same time shamed by them.
• Jesus sermon on the mount removes any delusions
  we might have about our own righteousness or
  goodness.

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5) MOURN

• Mt.54 Blessed are those who mourn, for they
  will be comforted.
• The second beatitude refers to people who mourn
  or grieve because indeed they have recognized
  their spiritual poverty.
• Mourning is the emotional counterpart to a mental
  recognition of sin.
• God approves of people who emotionally mourn over
  their own sin.

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5) MOURN

• And God approves of people who mourn for the sin
  of others.
• Jesus knew how to weep and mourn for the sin of
  others.
• The emotional depth of the mourning produces an
  equally deep joy of salvation.

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6) MEEK

• Mt.55 Blessed are the meek, for they will
  inherit the earth.
• humility, gentleness, and self-control
• Meekness operates within the context of our
  interpersonal relationships.
• Meekness is a humble and controlled desire to see
  the interests of others advance ahead of our own
  interests.
• Meekness and humility are the kinds of
  characteristics which, if you think you have
  them, you have actually just lost them!

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6) MEEK

• It is only Jesus who can with integrity claim to
  be meek.
• Mt.1128-29 Come to me, all you who are weary
  and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my
  yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle
  (meek) and humble in heart, and you will find
  rest for your souls.
• Jesus promises that the person who is meek will
  inherit everything!

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Approved by God

• Do you want Gods approval?
• Then admit your own spiritual poverty...
• mourn over your sin and the sin of other
  people...
• and display meekness in your personal
  relationships.