Sermon on the Mount, Part 2 // Stepping Into the Good Life

Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast.

Church of the Lookout is in Boulder, Colorado, and our vision is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love.

Visit us online at theLoOKout.ch.

Good morning.

Happy uh Mother's Day.

Um and uh I want to read uh a blessing uh from who's somebody who's becoming one of my favorite poets.

He's an Irish poet author named John O'Donohue.

And uh he wrote this beautiful blessing for mothers, and uh we're gonna have it on the screen here today.

And I just want to I want to bless you, moms, uh, you know, for for all of you who are mothers, grandmothers, spiritual mothers, adoptive mothers, single mothers, uh, mothers who are waiting for kids to come home, um, mothers who, you know, you know, for even for those who are hoping to be mothers, um, I want to bless you because it's such a it's such a gift, it's such a call, it's a grace on your life.

And so can we, I just want to read this over you.

Can we put up that first slide?

Mother, your voice learning to soothe your new child was the first home sound we heard before we could see.

Your young eyes gazing on us was the first mirror where we glimpsed what to what to be seen could mean.

Mother, your nearness tilled the air, an umbilical garden for all the seeds of thought that stirred in our infant hearts.

You nurtured and fostered this space to root all of our quietly gathering intensity that could grow nowhere else.

Mother, formed from the depths beneath your heart, you know us from the inside out.

No deeds or sees or others could ever erase that.

Isn't that beautiful?

I just want to bless you, moms, the capacity you have.

You taught us what it means to be seen.

And I thank you, my mom.

We all had mothers, whether we're a mother or not, we've all had mothers, and our mothers taught us what it meant to be seen from the inside out.

And so I uh want to ask Amy to come up, and she's gonna pray a blessing uh over mothers as a mother.

And uh, can you guys welcome Amy?

I put her on the spot just like three minutes ago, so she's going for it.

Um, okay.

So there's something very significant that I've seen the Lord do in individuals throughout the history of this church and in for women in the area of motherhood.

And I I sense an enlargement, and it's for all of women who want to take hold of it.

Um this is a very significant scripture for women, and this is for um the Lord gave me the scripture when I was barren for years, and he actually anointed me with the mantle of motherhood before I was a tangible mother.

And now that I have my own children, I realize the anointing to be a spiritual mother is just as significant, if not stronger.

It actually, I'm seeing how it transcends past just their formative years.

And so I want to bless each of you women if you want to step into that, that he's been knitting our generations together, and as women, we get to step into this in unity.

So, Isaiah 54, let us close our eyes.

The Lord says, Women, enlarge your house, build an addition, spread out your home, and spare no expense, for you will see soon be bursting at the seams.

Your descendants will occupy other nations and resettle the ruined cities.

Fear not, you will no longer live in shame.

Don't be afraid, there is no more disgrace for you, Father.

I thank you for the blessing of being a woman.

We thank you in this house that in your spirit there is freedom.

God, I bless the lips of every woman in this house that they would be so confident in the Lord that they would speak with integrity, boldness, freedom, that their words would be like honey to the souls that cross them.

And Lord, we love you, we look to you, we thank you that when there seems to be no way for us, you make a way, you make a way in every barren place in our life.

You give us the grace to lead in the midst of chaos.

You are the stillness in the middle of our storms, Father.

And so, as women, we step forward knowing whose we are.

We're yours, Father.

You hide us beneath the shadow of your wing, Lord.

I thank you for the Ruth in this house.

I thank you for the women who have faith in you, even in the even in the barren seasons, God.

And just like Ruth, God, I thank you that her faithfulness, Lord, you bless her.

God, I thank you for who she is.

And so, Lord, I bless the women of this house.

I thank you for the Debras.

And so, Lord, we expect you to move in our midst, Lord.

And God, it's good to be a woman in your house.

Amen.

Amen.

Come on.

Thank you.

So good.

So uh you've probably seen uh out in the the back of the room, we have all kinds of delightful gifts uh for mothers.

Um uh pansies, that's our gift to you, is pansies, and uh that you can feel free to go plant.

Um, or um if you love your mother, you go plant it for them.

That would be good too.

Uh, we have a photo booth out there, and then also a reminder we have tons of breakfast burritos and kind of like flowers out there.

It's a fundraiser for the youth to send youth to camp uh in June.

And so uh afterwards, if you really love your mother, buy her a breakfast burrito uh and uh and see how that goes.

Um so uh one more thing before we jump into the message today.

There's another mother in the house.

I don't think she's here today, um, but I want to acknowledge and celebrate uh an accomplishment even this week.

Um, Jennifer Peterson.

Um, Jennifer Peterson, many of you guys know, she has had a dream on her heart for the last few years.

It's finally coming into fruition this week.

Um, on the corner of 9th and Maine in Longmont, she has just finished and completed a beautiful new building, which we're gonna have on the screen called Casa Lou Cardenas.

All right, so if you go into Longmont, go up Maine, 9th and Maine, she scraped the property, and for the last few years, she has been developing this property, and it's named after a mother in Longmont, Lou Cardenas, and the his the heritage that she carries in the community as a Latino woman that bridged the gap um both ethnically and then socioeconomically within the community between the Latino community and many others.

And uh, and so it's named after Lou Cardenas, who who uh immigrated here, I believe, as a as a beet farmer back in the early 19th century.

And uh, and so it's dedicated to her and her family.

I was able to go with Jennifer and meet the rest of the family.

Uh Jeanette and I, we went over there and prayed with the family over the opening of the property.

So this Friday night, um, this Friday is going to be the grand opening, kind of the ribbon ceremony from uh, I think believe starting at four, four o'clock um this Friday.

And uh I just want to invite you to come and join.

If you're in the Longmont area, you want to come celebrate with Jennifer in this huge accomplishment because this building really is intended to bring the community together and to continue to be a unifying force in Longmont, not only to make Longmont beautiful, but that more bridges will be built in years to come.

Amen.

And so, both for the residents there and for the businesses there, it's an awesome thing to celebrate with somebody in our family that had a God dream and walked it through and prayed it through until it came into completion.

So I know Jennifer, you're not here, but we celebrate with you together.

It's awesome.

Um, and she also for this particular day needs uh volunteers uh to help.

I we told her that we'd help spread the word.

So in the morning or in the evening, there's plenty of places to volunteer.

You can come talk to us after the service and come and help out.

It's gonna be an awesome time this Friday night.

All right?

All right, everybody stand up for a moment.

I want you to uh yeah, just get loose.

Look to somebody around you, welcome them to church today.

Introduce yourself if you haven't met, and we're gonna jump in the word in just a second.

So good.

Go ahead and take a seat.

Go ahead and take a seat.

If you have your Bible with you, uh you can open up to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter five.

Open up to Matthew chapter five.

We will have it on the screen.

Um, but if you're new to the Bible, this is the first, there's four biographies of Jesus we call the Gospels, and uh this is the first of the four of different accounts of Jesus' life.

And last week uh we actually jumped into, we started a new journey through what we know in the Bible.

It's called the Sermon on the Mount.

And uh, and hopefully this week you've had a chance to read that.

And and and where it's located in the Gospel of Matthew is chapters five and six and seven.

And what it is, it's a collection of about 14 of Jesus' teaching.

It's the most lengthy, extensive um uh uh sermon that Jesus gave that's recorded in the Gospels.

And in this sermon, what he does is he he really paints a vivid picture.

He he casts this large vision of what life in his kingdom looks like.

And uh and that was his central message.

We talked about that last week, that everywhere he went, what he did, he's print proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.

That the kingdom of God is here and it's and it's for everybody.

And sometimes we think about the kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, we think about uh a place that's reserved for another time.

Like I'm gonna get my ticket punched today, so after I die, I have somewhere safe to go.

But that was not Jesus' message.

That wasn't his primary message.

His message was the kingdom of God has arrived, and for all who are willing to see it, who all who can perceive it, who all uh would would be willing to enter into it, you can enter into the life of the kingdom right here and right now.

And that was the good news that he brought everywhere he went.

So the Sermon on the Mount really what it is, is it's this beautiful invitation, and he paints word pictures and parables and and uh and casts, and he tells stories and casts a vision of what it means to live into uh this kingdom.

And and uh and why does all that matter to Jesus?

Well, to skip to the end of the story, hate to spoil the plot.

If you haven't seen the movie yet, I'm gonna tell you how it ends, all right?

The very end of Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, he finishes with some super uh sobering, profound words.

He says, Listen, all that to say, here's how he finishes the Sermon on the Mount.

He says, The one who hears what I have to say and does them is like a man who builds his house on the rock.

And when the waves come and the storm comes, it stands.

But the one who hears what I say and does not do them, does not obey them, does not heed them or put them into practice is like a man who builds his house on the sand.

And when the floods come, that house washes away.

That's my paraphrase of this little story at the very end.

And uh, and so according to Jesus, the difference between a house that lasts and a house that washes away is about not just listening to a teaching and being inspired by it, but actually living into it and doing something about it.

All right?

You guys hearing me?

This is why this is so important.

Because I do believe that we're kind of in a time on earth where there is a lot of shaking, there's a lot of wind, there is floods that are happening, so to speak, there is a there's turmoil on earth, and in a time of global shaking, listen, I want to be the kind of person who has built his house on the rock that will last, that will stand the test of time.

I believe that you want the same thing.

We do not want to be people that have find out later on where the foundations are exposed.

We found out that our house is built on a faulty foundation.

We want to be people who listen to the words of Jesus and say, I will live my life into this because I believe that uh that in order to build houses that not only withstand shaking, but houses that can contain the glory of God, we must take seriously every word that comes out of the mouth of God.

Are you guys with me here today?

I believe that there has never been a more convenient time to become a Christian, in the West, at least.

And what I mean by that is you will never have experienced a time where there are more books, there's more Bibles, translations of the Bible.

Just pick one, pick one of the 200 translations that suits your interest.

Book studies, small group discussion guides, video series, podcasts about the Bible, worship songs, the amount of worship music available, like the songs that we're singing this today, the songs on the radio, there has never been better songs written on earth than are than have been written right now.

But at the end of the day, what brings transformation and what builds a house that lasts is not inspiration, it's obedience to the words of God.

That's what separates, and I believe moving in the future, that's what separates a house that stands versus a house that is exposed and sinks.

This is important to Jesus, and this is important to us today.

Are you guys with me here?

Okay, so we're jumping into the Sermon on the Mount, and this is all pent up, right?

So Jesus, he's 30 years old at this point in time.

He hasn't he hasn't preached yet that we know of.

And so this is he's been working on this for about three decades, a little slow cooker, crock pot, right?

And he's been working on a message, and uh, and this is his shot.

And so he chooses his words carefully as he enters into this message.

And so let's read together Matthew chapter 5, starting in verse 1.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Here's how it starts.

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth and he taught them.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Let's pray together.

God, I thank you as we open these words, as we read your words, Jesus.

We thank you, God, that they would fall on fertile soil, God, that the soil of our hearts would receive your word afresh today.

We thank you for your vision of life with you, that it's available to all.

And I just pray that today your good news would come to us in a fresh way.

We thank you, Jesus.

And it's in your name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

So we know this opening passage in the Sermon on the Mount.

We know this is the Beatitudes.

That's kind of like the catch-all category for these nine blessings.

Now, the key word in all of these, as you may have guessed, the key word in all these blessings is the word blessed.

And uh, it's the operating word, and it's also one of those words that has become super ambiguous in our culture.

Um, because we can use the word blessed and we can tag onto anything.

Um, we can hashtag every post with blessed, and uh, and and most would agree with us, any good, favorable thing that happens in our life, but that we don't actually always know what it means.

And it's difficult language-wise here because the New Testament, this the Gospel of Matthew is written in Greek, but Jesus didn't speak Greek, he spoke Aramaic.

And then the Old Testament, though, is written in Hebrew, which is kind of the written language uh of the tradition of the Jews.

Well, it's all in Hebrew, but he spoke Aramaic, and so there's a lot of things going on here.

So the word uh uh the word translated bless is Mekarios in Greek.

It's Hebrew equivalent, though, is this word ashre, which means the good life.

It means the good life.

There's another word for blessing that means bar that that's called baruch, and that means to bless, to actually lay our hands.

So during worship, when Piper had us put our hands on our shoulder on each other's shoulders and bless each other, that would be like a baruch, to pronounce a blessing over each other.

But what Jesus is doing here is not so much a pronouncement of blessing, um, but it's a vision, it's a it's this word ashre, which means the good life.

And there's different words that are used here.

So if we want to know what the word blessed means, here's a few other words it can mean.

It can mean happy and fortunate, delightful, enriched, joyful, blissful, flourishing, or lucky.

Lucky are those.

And uh, and so he he he makes this observation that obtain a certain kind of blessing.

And he goes to talk about why that is.

Now, all of us in this room have a vision of the good life.

The good life.

What is the good life?

And I gotta ask you, like, what is your vision of the good life?

Is it playing golf in retirement?

Is it uh is it on the beach in Turks and Caicos, right?

Is it uh is it uh I don't know, just the Pinterest-worthy lifestyle of Joanna Gaines and Magnolia Holmes, right?

Everything in the right order in your home, the perfectly kept home where no kids are there to screw it all up.

That sounded a little loaded, I'm sorry.

You have a vision of the good life, of what your perfect week, your ideal day would look like.

And I remember even as a kid, see, I grew up in Indiana, and we had a lake cottage in Indiana, and we uh my grandfather built this cottage back in like the 1940s, and they just did it, just a quick little shack on this lake, just these what they wanted a place to party on the weekends.

I mean, that's all that they weren't trying to build this huge thing.

Now, over time, people started buying up property on this lake, Clear Lake, Indiana, and started building huge properties.

And uh, and we we never quite kept up in our in our family.

So we had our we have our little kind of shack and then all these mansions that surround it.

And I remember as a kid what we would do in the summer is we'd get in our boat and we'd go and we'd do these little tours around the lake.

We just kind of toured the whole edge of the lake.

And and we'd always it was just kind of clockwork.

We had our little charcuterie board of sorts, you know, or whatever Indiana version of a charcuterie board, triskets and cheddar cheese, cheese whiz.

Um we'll call it charcuterie because you guys are, you know, you guys are the our highfalutants here in Colorado.

Um so we'd get out on the boat and we cruise around the lake, and I just remembered it's like every house we'd we'd come up to, we'd be like, ooh, wow.

We just like admire like the new architecture, this huge monstrosity of a house.

And then we start guessing what these types of people do for a living, right?

So, like, oh man, she must be an astronaut.

Like, he must be a he must be an orthopedic surgeon.

You know, we start guessing, what do you have to do to earn that kind of income to build that kind of house?

What is it that one must do to get a speedboat, a pontoon boat, and two brand new wave runners?

What do we have to do?

Because that was the good life, right?

It's like these people have cracked the nut.

They've figured it out.

This is the good life that if you're on the lake, this is the kind of house you want.

You want windows that face this direction, you want these kinds of water vessels, you need the trampoline in the water with happy kids, right?

Jumping up and down safely in the water.

Um, and uh and I just remember just like every every that was our vision.

This is the good life.

And someday, one day, if all the stars align, if I, you know, if I if I do it, if I win the Powerball, whatever it is, this could, this too could be me, right?

So we all have a vision of what that looks like.

For some of you, it's that mountain property.

For some of you, it's just uh maybe it's much more simple than that.

Maybe it's just being surrounded by legions of grandkids or whatever.

Um, but we all have a vision of what the good life looks like, right?

And so when Jesus is starting off the Sermon on the Mount, what he's doing is he's not casting a picture to a group of elite, wealthy people in the center of the city.

He's not preaching the sermon in the temple where everybody put on their Sunday vest or whatever they would wear to temple or synagogue.

He's not preaching this in the center of Jerusalem with all the powers and authorities around.

This is the Galilean countryside.

These people were not, the people he's preaching to were not part of the chosen circle.

They're not powerful.

He's surrounded by crowds of people who he knows, he's looking into the eyes.

It says as he starts, he sees the crowds and he sees his disciples and he sees them.

He looks into their eyes.

He knows exactly who they are.

He looks in the eyes and he knows that they're mostly powerless, and many of whom are mourning, many of whom are hungering and thirsting.

Many of them are very connected to their need, their grief in life.

They're oppressed, they're not on the upper end of the favorable favorable parts of society.

So he sees that inner eye in their eyes.

And so he's not talking to uh the people he's talking to are very much steeped in a way of life.

And so when he starts this sermon, he's inviting them in, and basically the the message of what where he's going is the good life is also available to you.

The good life, life in the kingdom, is also available to you.

Now, a couple things that we do with the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes is that there's a couple of things we do with this whole part of the scriptures, is we we either read it and make it so poetic that it's not even really accessible.

It's like this, it's like, oh, these are really pretty words that Jesus is using, but this isn't actually accessible.

This is like this alternate world that he's talking about.

And it's not, he didn't really mean these things.

He's just kind of he's just trying to inspire, right?

He's just trying to catalyze something.

The other thing we do is, yeah, we make it idealistic.

This is utopian.

This is like maybe someday these kinds of things are possible, but not right now, not for the everyday average Joe kind of person.

And so we we read these things, we don't know what to do with them.

Here's one thing that we often do with the beatitudes, though, that I think is important that we kind of flip on its head.

So each of these beatitudes, there's a there's a blessed are those, and it kind of point he points out a condition, like those who mourn, and then there's a second part, which is for they shall be comforted.

There's kind of a part one and a part two.

Here's the context, here's what I know that you're facing right now in your life.

You're hungry and thirsting for righteousness, or you're fighting for mercy.

And then here's the second part, which is here's what's available to you.

Now, oftentimes what happens is we think that Jesus is pronouncing a blessing on the first part.

We think what he's what he's doing is he's blessing the first part as a virtue in and of itself, as something that should be want to be achieved.

And it's important that we look at this because we read, Blessed are those who mourn, and we think, oh, okay, so blessed are those who mourn.

So that means if I want blessing, then I must become the kind of person who is mourning now.

I meet, I need to become really sad if I'm going to enter into this blessing.

So what happens is we take that first part and we think the blessing is attached to the first part.

If I want a blessing, I need more mourning in our life.

And so we see them as qualifications.

This is kind of what we do through our enlightened Western lens as we see this.

Oh, this is the template, this is the formula.

If I just do these things, this is what I get.

But this is not where Jesus is going in this particular passage when he's going through these beatitudes.

They aren't blessed because they're mourning, they're blessed because they will receive the comfort of God.

He's not saying that in order to unlock the comfort of God, you need to become mourning people.

He's saying if you are mourning, comfort is now yours in the kingdom of God.

Here's why this is important, because he's not trying to get people to start mourning.

He's looking at them because they are mourning.

He's looking at them because they are spiritually bankrupt.

They're poor in spirit.

Many of them, not just poor in spirit, but poor economically.

So he's not saying, I want you to become more like this so that you can.

He, what he's saying is, if this is where you're at, guess what?

The good life is available to you too.

You are not counted out, you're not on the fringe, you're not pushed out.

Just because you're not part of that chosen circle somewhere down the road doesn't mean that you don't get to play in the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is available to you right here and right now as well.

He's talking to these people, he knows who they are.

And and the reason why that uh it's important to make that distinction is because what if you're not poor in spirit?

What if you're enriched in spirit, right?

What if you're just rich in general?

What if you're wealthy?

What if you're content and happy?

And do you not receive the kingdom of God?

Is that not available to you?

Now, to be clear, Jesus had a lot of sharp words for those who are rich.

For those for us, okay?

He had sharp words for those who are wealthy, but that's not what he's getting at right here.

What he's saying is that the pathway to the kingdom of God is not just for the rich, it's for the poor, it's for all of those who would be willing to enter in.

And so his announcement to them is while the world counts them out, the new life that he is opening up in this in this new kingdom, this new way that he's opening up, they are now at the front of the line, which is something completely different than everything that had been seen, everything that had been told, everything that they had experienced was they were not good enough for what Jesus was saying.

And he and so he starts this whole Sermon on the Mount, turning the entire thing up on its head, and basically reiterating you you have been told that these are the ones who have made it.

But I tell you now, the good life, the kingdom of God is available to you right here and right now.

I spoke with somebody this week on our leadership team who has a really has had a really hard relationship with this passage because their entire entire childhood, their parents would use the beatitudes as like a litmus test of true spirituality.

And, you know, here's the list of the fruit of the spirit, here's the list of spiritual gifts, here's the beatitudes.

Where do you stack up today?

Are you meek?

Are you merciful?

Right?

Are you a peacemaker?

If you're not, then you don't stack up.

And so this uh this leader on our team was just talking about how she's had to kind of completely reconfigure her understanding of how to approach these things, not as a litmus test or a formula for what to do, but as a gift, as a good news for all of those who have been counted out to actually enter into it in a new way.

One of my friends, Ben Cirkey, said it like this.

He said, the beatitudes aren't prescriptions, they're simply proclamations, announcements of sheer grace, blessing for those who have been told their whole lives they weren't worth God's time and weren't on God's mind.

So at Dallas Willard, he coined the term, this is for hopeless unblessables.

Dallas Willard says, This is a list for the hopeless unblessables, for these people that had been ground to dust under the boot of oppressive power and told repeatedly that they were the scum of the earth who deserved all the suffering they endured.

And so Jesus looks out on this crowd of hopeless unblessables and says, Guess what?

You're now the salt of the earth, you're the light of the world, you've inherited the abundance of the kingdom.

You have encountered the blessing of God's kingdom right here and right now, despite your poverty of spirit, despite your weeping, despite your timidity, despite the injustice done to you, despite every aspect or condition that has been used as an explanation for keeping you away from flourishing, God is bypassing the entire system and meeting you right here in the wilderness, away from the temple, and conferring the abundance and authority of the kingdom upon you.

This is good news.

And so, in doing this, and this new proclamation of blessing, what the the listeners would have heard was remnants of the Old Testament of the prophet Isaiah.

We talked a little bit about this last week.

So Isaiah 61.

Isaiah 61, the prophet Isaiah's prophesying about a day where the Messiah would come.

And here's what the Messiah's ministry would look like.

The Messiah meaning the one that the Jews were waiting for.

Isaiah 61.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

Come on, is anybody glad to be a recipient of the good news of what Jesus came to bring?

And so everything you hear in the prophet Isaiah, it's almost like he's mirroring that for you a new day.

He's like, I'm the one that the prophet Isaiah was talking about.

And that day that we were looking forward to, that day is now here.

And so, what is good news to the poor?

The good news to the poor is not uh you're you're about to make a million.

The good news to the poor is you no longer need a million.

You are accepted, you are abundant, you are rich right where you are.

Just step in right now.

It's time to rethink the good life.

And so you hear um when Jesus uses in in Matthew 4, he uses the phrase, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

It sounds so King James-ish, doesn't it?

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

You know, it's just like it's hard to say that without an English accent.

I need to get up on a soapbox, get my bowl horn, but repent.

But but all you strip back the language, just pull it back a little bit.

What is Jesus?

What is the heart of what he's saying?

He's saying, listen, rethink.

Rethink where you're at.

You think the kingdom of God is further.

You think it's for those kinds of people.

You think that you think you think the good life, that the ones who make it, you think it's way out here, but you need to rethink, you need to change from where you're at.

And as soon as you turn around, you're gonna find that right next to you is a doorway open to this new kingdom that inaugurates right now because I am here and I'm opening a door to you to everybody who has been counted out.

And how much do we need this message?

We need to be steeped in this message.

We needed to be steeped in the good news because all of us do this, even those of you who've been following Jesus for a long time.

How many of us still think that we haven't made it?

We still think that God is waiting for us to get way up there, to become that kind of person before he really blesses us, he opens up the door of the kingdom.

That is, this is why he came, because he said that way of thinking must come to an end.

That was an old way of thinking.

There's a new day, and in this new day, the kingdom of God is right here, and it's right now for all who will step into it to receive it like a gift.

You can now be glad participants in the good life of God.

Come on, this is so good.

So, wherever you see sparrows, wherever you see flowers blooming, that's where the rule of God is.

Just come in and just enter right here and now.

It's right here.

So, for so for those of you who are like, what do I need to do?

Just step in.

Just start, just start.

That's why it's such good news.

You just gotta start.

Just say, God, I'm I'm in.

That's your prayer of faith today.

I'm in.

Thank you, God.

So, what are these blessings?

These blessings, we could spend all time, you know.

In fact, I thought about doing an entire eight-week series just on these, each of these Beatitudes.

Uh, we decided not to do it for this round, but these blessings, you could pull every one of them apart and talk about what it means.

The poor in spirit, it's those who feel spiritually bankrupt and maybe actually bankrupt.

It's those who feel like they've come to the end of themselves.

They have nothing else in their life.

Some of you know what that feels like to come to the bottom of the barrel.

You have no other options.

And to you, Jesus says, you're blessed because the kingdom of heaven is yours.

Blessed are those who mourn.

And we mourn for all kinds of reasons sickness, sickness, death, loss.

But the blessing is that comfort is now yours in Jesus.

Blessed are the meek, for they and they shall inherit the earth.

Now, meek is not a used we word we use a lot, and it's not something we want to associate because to me, meek sounds a lot like week.

I don't want to be known as meek, meek and mild.

There's Luke, meek and mild.

No, dude, like, come on, bring it.

Meek.

Who wants to be meek?

Meek is like humble, but in the world system, the meek doesn't inherit the earth.

That's the whole point.

The meek doesn't get all the meek don't get things done.

Right?

They get trampled upon in the world.

They don't take the bull by the horns, but Jesus is saying there's something about those who enter into the way of humility that they are actually going to inherit the earth in my kingdom.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Now we have to understand those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, this word righteousness is very close to the word for justice.

And in the understanding of the Hebrew, righteousness and justice are kind of like two stools on a, or two legs of a stool.

I guess you really need three legs to a stool, but let's just call them two legs to a stool.

Righteousness and justice, it says in the Psalms, are the foundation of God's throne.

And so hungering and thirsting for righteousness, it's those who are, you could say, starving for justice in their life.

Those who have been on the back end of an oppressive system, those who hunger and say, You're starving for something to be made right, right standing with God and right standing with other people.

And he's saying, Your the promise for you is you shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Again, the merciful uh are often in the world system not looked upon as uh as admirable.

They're seen as those who were not strong enough to get things done the right way or to exert dominance.

The merciful are those who are often weak as well.

But he's saying to the merciful, they are going to receive my mercy.

The pure in heart, for they shall receive God.

Blessed are the pure pure in heart, for they shall see God.

There's a lot that can be said about what it means to be pure in heart.

But again, it's a it's when your inner life and your outer life match where you're not pretending to be something that you're not.

There's a purity of life and a purity of action.

And that doesn't get you far in the world system, but Jesus is saying, listen, if you're pure in heart, if you maintain your innocence before me, then I will reveal myself to you.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Those are the ones, the peacemakers are always the ones who find themselves in the middle of a conflict.

You find yourself right in the middle.

Some of you know what I'm talking about.

Like I've got some peacemaking in me.

I find myself in the middle of conflict sometimes.

And because part of it is I I that's where I like to be.

Um, but in the middle of conflict, where you're not one side or the other, a lot of times you can be counted out.

But Jesus is saying, Listen, blessed are the peacemakers, for they are my children, they will be called sons of God.

And blessed are the persecuted, those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

So he goes through all of these things.

There's things that aren't in the world system anything that's desirable.

But in his kingdom, he's saying, Listen, if you're walking in this way, I want you to know there's a promise for you, and it's still good news for us here today.

And I want to show you a clip here.

This clip is from uh the TV show called The Chosen, which some of you watch.

Anybody watch The Chosen?

It's basically a little drama series about the life of Jesus walking through the scriptures.

And you can watch, I think it's on Amazon Prime or something like that.

Um, but I love the way that they captured this whole scene of Jesus working on the Sermon on the Mount.

Because when he goes up to Matthew, his documenter, who is a former tax collector, now uh follower of Jesus, he said, Matthew, I figured it out.

I figured out how I'm gonna start.

I'm gonna give them a map.

I'm gonna start this whole sermon with a map.

And if these people want to find me, these are the groups of people that they need to be looking for because wherever they are, I'm going to be with them.

Take a look at this scene.

I've got it.

What is it?

A map.

What directions where people should look to find me.

Okay, give me a moment.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account?

Rejoice and be glad.

For your reward will be great in heaven.

Yes.

How is it the map?

If someone wants to find me, those are the groups they should look for.

And then you are the salt of the earth.

It's beautiful, yeah?

The map.

If you want to know where Jesus is, look for these groups of people.

And the truth is, around this room, some of you can locate yourself on that map.

You know what it's like to live these things out.

I just want to read another version of these Beatitudes.

This is from the message translation.

I just want to invite you to close your eyes with me here today.

Just close your eyes.

We're wrapping up here pretty soon.

And I want you to pay attention to the good news available to you.

And this is worded a little bit differently.

But I'm trusting that God will deliver to you what you need to hear today.

You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope.

With less of you, there is more of God in his rule.

You're blessed when you feel like you've lost what's most dear to you.

Only then can you be embraced by the one most dear to you.

You're blessed when you're content with just who you are, no more, no less.

That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God.

He's food and drink, and the best meal you'll ever eat.

You're blessed when you care.

At the moment of being careful, you find yourselves cared for.

You're blessed when you go inside, when you get your inside world, your mind and your heart put right.

Then you can see God in the outside world.

You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight.

That's when you discover who you really are and your place in God's family.

You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution.

The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

Not only that, count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me.

What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable.

You can be glad when that happens.

Give a cheer, even.

For though they don't like it, I do.

And all of heaven applauds and know that you are in good company.

My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

So this morning, I just want to leave these blessings with you, and to think about this morning what is available to you here and now.

Some of you in this room, and you need to know that God is not far off.

You feel like God is far from you.

But the good news here today is He is accessible, He is here and present to all who call on His name.

He knows what you're going through.

He knows the losses that you mourn.

He knows the spiritual bankruptcy you might feel.

And maybe in today's language we would use different categories.

Blessed are the lonely.

Blessed are the angry.

Blessed are the addicted.

Blessed are the unemployed.

Blessed are the overemployed.

Blessed are the businesses that have gone broke.

Blessed are the disabled.

Blessed are the houseless.

Blessed are those who are forgotten.

There may be other ways that you would describe yourself.

And I just announce to you that the kingdom of God is here and with you.

In Jesus' name.

And if that's you in this room and you need a real touch from God today, I just want to pray over you.

Because I just had a sense this morning, even in our pre-service prayer, that God wanted to draw near and encounter you with his love.

So, Jesus, today, as we hold open your words, God, I thank you that you make them present and real for every person in this room today.

God, where we need peace, I thank you for a spirit of peace over every anxious situation.

We thank you for a spirit of rest where we feel turmoil in our lives.

We thank you for a spirit of truth, God, where we hear lies in our own head.

We thank you for a spirit of healing where we have been wounded or have carried illness, God.

And I thank you, God, for your love to reach into every heart.

I pray for the blessing of the Father upon you, church.

That He's here, He's available.

He loves you, He knows you.

Blessed are you.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.