Good morning Green Hills.  If we have not met yet, my name is Steve Muncherian.  I am one of the elders here and this morning it is my privilege to share God's word with us.  Before we dive into the Bible would you join me in prayer.

This morning we are returning to our study of the Sermon on the Mount – The Good Life – that Pastor Jared began opening up to us last Sunday.  The Sermon on the Mount being Jesus opening up about God and His Kingdom and the good life that God intends for each of us to live as citizens of His Kingdom.

We’re going be moving forward in Jesus’ teaching – looking at Matthew 5:6-12 – if you want to turn, tap, or swipe there.  But, before we get there we’re going to start back at verse 1 in order to make sure we’re all up to speed together from what Pastor Jared shared last Sunday – and to refresh us with the context for where we’re going this morning.

Matthew 5:1: Seeing the crowds, He (Jesus) went up on the mountain, and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him. And He opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “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.

Verse 6: “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.”

Some brief background.  There is a crowd of people following Jesus by the Sea of Galilee – and Jesus goes up the hill – away from the sea – to teach His disciples – and most probably – as Jesus is teaching His disciples the crowd is also listening in.

The people that are hearing Jesus teach are living in an occupied country – run by a thinly veiled military dictatorship.  They’re a subjugated people – oppressed in their own land.  Taxes are oppressive.  Life is oppressive – cruel – hard – often brutal.

Their king isn’t even Hebrew.  Herod is an Edomite.  A generations long enemy of Israel.  A foreign usurper to the throne – who’s certifiable and leading the country down the tubes.  He’s got his own self-serving agenda.  A government run amok.

And the priesthood is in league with the government.  Both are corrupt.  False religions and false ideas about God abound.  Godly morality is missing from society. 

Maybe something in all that sounds kinda familiar.  Yes?  Political and cultural nut-so-ness is nothing new. 

And yet Jesus’ first word – the bottom line of how Jesus describes His disciples and those listening in – even in the circumstances they’re living in – not too different from our own circumstances – Jesus’ first word describing them is… “Blessed.”

Which is a brain rocker – very not the way most of these people would have described their lives.

But it is foundational to everything else Jesus teaches here.  So we need to make sure we’re hearing this like Jesus is teaching it.

“Blessed” translates the Greek word “makarios.”  Which some translations – trying to help us understand how people back then would have understood what Jesus meant – some translations translate this word “makarios” as “happy.”

Which is a legit translation but it doesn’t go deep enough.  In fact, there isn’t any one English word that fully covers it.

“Blessed” has the idea of being able to flourish – to live the good life Jesus is opening up – because at the core of who we are is a settled peace – a profound sense of essential well-being – a stability in life that comes only from knowing God’s grace and mercy and unfailing faithful love towards us – even in the midst of the worst that the world will spew out at us.

Understood in the context of how those hearing Jesus would have been hearing Jesus – these first three “blesseds” – verses 3-5 that Pastor Jared opened up to us last Sunday – in the context of how those hearing Jesus would have heard Jesus – they would have been shocked.  “Say what?”

To Jesus’ listeners – life with God – in the midst of the nut-so-ness of where and when they lived life – life with God meant sacrifices – regulations – traditions – impossible standards of holiness – hundreds of laws imposed by the Pharisees and Sadducees – and condemnation and ostracism for failure to live by doing all that righteousness.

The people listening to Jesus were people who were struggling to keep up – to survive – let alone experience anything resembling being blessed by God.

But Jesus teaches – with these first 3 “blessed” – “blessed” are –those who get that they are spiritually bankrupt – who mourn it – who recognize their failure and inadequacy and yet who seek to live in meekness – humility before God and others.

Let’s be clear.  Being  blessed doesn’t come by somehow living up to all the laws and regulations imposed by the Pharisees and Saducees.

Being blessed isn’t something we achieve or earn or accomplish by our whit, wisdom, and working.  It’s not about how long we’ve been in the church or what we know or who we know or what positions we’ve held or how much we give or what we do for God.  And, whatever this world has to offer us will never bring us to the blessed flourishing good life that Jesus is showing us here.

The blessing of God only comes from God.  God who is gracious and merciful and loving and unfailingly faithful and Who chooses to bless us.  God – who in the context of Jesus speaking to those on the mountain that day – God Who has come to these spiritually hurting people and brought His kingdom to them.

And to us. 

Jesus has come for us.  Jesus Who took on our humanity – Who died in our place on the cross – Who took our sin and the penalty for our sin on Himself – Who has come for us and Who is alive and is our returning King.  We are blessed. 

Meaning that each of us has the God given opportunity to – in Christ – to live blessed – to live the flourishing good life of the Kingdom – that Jesus is showing us – even as people messed up by sin living in the messed up by sin world that we live in.

Together?

So now… coming to verse 6…  by the way, all that is the introduction.  We may be here a while.  So, get comfortable.  But not too comfortable. 

Coming to verse 6 – Jesus speaking to hurting people who get their spiritual bankruptcy and yet telling them that they’re blessed – verses 1-5 – with these next 6 “blesseds” Jesus is going to lay out examples for them – and us – of what God’s blessing means for us as we seek after God.

Verse 6 – Jesus says: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Israel can be pretty dry.  The people listening to Jesus are on the side of hill in the hot sun – there’s no In-N-Out burger – hungering and thirsting connects.

Not many years ago I saw a video that someone had taken in a third world country where people were starving.  Picture people – swollen stomachs – emaciated – dying – the only task is survival.

When the truck arrived with water and sacks of grain – the people polite – waiting patiently in line – “Please may I have a sack of grain and some water.”

Women – mothers – threw themselves in front of the truck to stop it.  Within a matter of minutes the truck was stripped clean by their kids.

These people were desperate – starving – hungering and thirsting – with the kind of heart level intensity that’s here in Jesus’ teaching. 

Righteousness is being totally 100% right with God – spiritually in who we are and how we live.  Being totally in sync with God’s will in our purpose, thoughts, and actions. 100% intending, thinking, and doing God’s will 24/7/365. 

That connects with Jesus’ hearers because they knew they fell short.

When we’re doing Bible study and praying and worshiping and gathering together and serving God – seeking after God and to live in obedience to Him and orientating our lives towards Him – all that is part of what it means for us to hunger and thirst for righteousness. 

But, we can be honest.  In all of our hungering and thirsting – we still are painfully conscious of our spiritual desperation for God – that we all fall way short of that 100% in sync with God part of righteousness.

The Greek word for “satisfy” is ”chortazo” – it has the idea of fattening up cattle.  History quiz.  Remember this?  Happy cows come from… where?  California.  Well fed.  Satisfied.  Blessed cows.

Blessed are – they are blessed - those who passionately desire to live as God requires – who seek after our King and His Kingdom.  Who passionately desire to allow Him to transform our hearts into conformity with His heart - to remove from us whatever keeps us back from living life 100% in sync with His will – living as He would have us live life.

Those who realize their spiritual bankruptcy and so hunger and thirst after the righteousness of God are blessed.

Why?  Because God will satisfy them.

God – Who has brought His Kingdom to us – God Himself

Are we hearing Jesus for ourselves?

Each of us being painfully aware of our failures and short-comings – our sin – when we’re willing to come clean with God about our sin and total desperation for Him – to passionately pursue what He has for us in life – God does not leave us hanging there.

God Himself will supply all that we need – transforming us – conforming us to His will – satisfying the deepest needs of our hearts – leading us forward into the flourishing good life He intends for us.

Going on – next example – verse 7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

Mercy is not giving someone what they deserve. 

God’s goodness and love for the guilty and miserable.  Jesus’ healing the sick, feeding the hungry, forgiving sinners.  None of that is deserved.  We all deserve God’s wrath.

And mercy is proactive – those who are merciful…  those who look for opportunities to be merciful – to meet needs – empathy and compassion in action – rather than dishing out condemnation. 

Why?  Because our example of mercy is God. 

Do we deserve mercy?  No.  Can we earn God’s mercy?  No.  We sinners deserve the wrath of God - to be toasted and roasted by God forever and ever amen.  But God is merciful towards us – holds back His wrath. 

Jesus’ point being:  Those who show mercy to others understand God’s mercy towards them.

Let’s be honest.  And maybe I’m alone in this.  But, there are times when “mercy” probably wouldn’t describe our attitudes and actions towards others.  “Amen”?

There are times when we’d really like to justifiably level somebody.  To tell someone exactly what they can do with themselves and their attitude and their garbage of a lifestyle and woefully inadequate driving skills.

And there are times when I find myself avoiding people.  They got themselves into the mess they’re in.  Why should I care?  Why should I try to help them out.  I can be a very self-focused person.

Amen?  Show mercy…

In the context of where these people were living – Jesus is talking to people who had had a long-long boat load of condemnation dumped on them.  They’d probably never received mercy from those who were over them.

For them – like us – it would be so easy to become bitter – resentful – angry – judgmental.  Receiving mercy – being merciful – not even in a consideration.

But mercy isn’t about us or what’s been done to us.  Mercy is when we proactively follow God’s example into the world and seek to do for others what they do not deserve.  Results being left up to… God – the ultimate source of mercy.

There is such encouragement in knowing that we are not the ultimate standard of mercy… God is.  We can say “Amen” to that! 

So, are we hearing Jesus?

Those that are blessed – who get their spiritual bankruptcy and are hungering and thirsting for God’s righteousness – they’re going to seek to demonstrate His mercy towards others – that’s the flourishing good life in action – and God will be merciful to those who are being merciful.

Not that somehow our being merciful earns God’s mercy – but because regardless of what we’ve fallen short of or we’ve done to God – He’s shown us mercy. Regardless of what anyone else does to us – God will show us mercy.  In the worst of our circumstances and despite the worst that we deserve – God’s got us.  We are blessed.

Next - verse 8: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

How many of you buy bottled water?  Pure water.  Yes?  Anyone ever buy a bottle labeled stinking slimy sewer water?  On one level we get pure.  We desire what is pure.  So does God.

Pure translates the Greek word “katharos” – meaning… “pure”.  Nothing added.  Without sin or guilt – blameless – innocent.

In Scripture “pure” is used to describe different ways people lived trying to be right before God – ceremonially – morally – and so on.  Jesus is to the point – blessed are the pure in… heart.

The heart is the core of who we are – the source of our feelings – desires – will.  What motivates us in what we do for God.  What motivates us in how we live for God.  The secrecy of our thoughts and feelings – what motivates us – what nobody but us and God know about.

1 Samuel 16:7: “…man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the… heart.” (ESV)

We can fool others – fool ourselves.  But God gets our heart – pure or not. 

Matthew 19 – there’s the familiar account of an upwardly mobile rich young urban professional who’s also devoutly religious. 

This young rich man asks Jesus… what?  “Teacher, what good thing do I need to do to receive eternal life?”

And Jesus says to him, “Keep the commandments.”  And Jesus lists the ones that have to do with how relate to others – do not murder – do not commit adultery – do not steal – do not lie – honor your father and mother – love your neighbor as yourself.

To which the man replies, “Been there.  Done that.” 

Jesus says to him, “If you want to be complete – go and sell everything you have and give the money to the poor – and you’ll have riches in Heaven – then come and follow me.”  And when the young man heard this he went away sorrowful because he was very… rich.

This guy had checked all the boxes of the religious leaders.  He’d done all the right things.  But he’d never surrendered his heart to God.

Jesus knew – he’s trusting what he’d done – what he had – more than God.  Purity of heart before God was not motivating his actions.

Which is an example – a challenge – for us.

There are so many things that we can offer to God – and we’re willing to do for God – even our possessions.  Which is all good.  But what God asks for is purity of heart.  A heart which is 100% sold out to God.  Not 50% - not 75% or 90% - but 100%.  There’s nothing else in there but God.  Nothing is held back.

Jesus didn’t come into the world simply because we have some messed up ideas or to help us to try harder at doing the right thing.  He came into the world because we have dirtied by sin hearts that need to be purified – that can only be purified by God.

“They will see God” is the Greek verb “oraō” – which means more than just eye sight.  It has to do with perception – discernment – understanding. 

Someday – hopefully soon – you and I will see God face to face – gathered with all of His people standing together before His throne – seeing our King in the full reality of His Kingdom.  That seeing God may be part of what Jesus has in mind here.

But until then – here and now - there’s a promise here for us. 

God desires to work in our hearts – to transform us at the core of who we are – to purify us – to cleanse us.  So that nothing hinders our relationship with Him and what He desires to do in us and through us.  So that nothing clouds our vision of God. 

So that – even in the places we do life – we will see more of Who God is and how God is at work – even in us and through us.  And we will live blessed – flourishing in the good life that God intends for us. 

Verse 9: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

During the last 4,000 plus years or so of human history there have been only about 270 years of peace – less than 8% of recorded history.  Over 8,000 peace treaties have been made – and broken.

There have been at least 14,000 plus wars in which over 3½ billion people have been killed.  In the last 3 centuries alone there have been 286 wars on the continent of Europe.¹

Today people are still dying over the same real estate people have been dying over since people started dying over real estate.

We get this.  Right?  Where and when we live – we long for peace but there ain’t no peace.  Anybody here complain if peace became characteristic of our culture? 

Have you seen the bumper sticker: “NO CHRIST – NO PEACE / KNOW CHRIST – KNOW PEACE”

Isaiah 9:6 – God through Isaiah identifies Jesus as the Prince of Peace.  God Who is the only source of true peace Who makes peace between us and God.  We are blessed by God with His peace. 

Jesus teaches – those who know God’s peace will act like His children – sons of God – by bringing God’s peace into the circumstances of our lives – into the lives of those around us.  We will be peacemakers.

That’s what the flourishing good life looks like in action for those who – recognizing their desperation for God – who have turned to Him – hungering and thirsting after Him – who are being satisfied by Him – who live mercifully – pure in heart – do because of what God has done for us.

Verse 10: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

In verse 11 Jesus gives a description of what He means by persecution.  He says, “Blessed are you when others revile you – shame you – and persecute you – mistreat you – and utter all kinds of evil – lies – against you falsely on my account.

And our response?  Verse 12: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

In all three verses the Greek word for persecution is “diōkō.”  The idea is pursuit – a relentless – thought-through commitment to hurt somebody – to crush them – to destroy them.

That kind of “diōkō” persecution has always included all kinds of things – none of them good – imprisonment – torture - death. 

While we may not yet face that intensity of persecution – there are ways that each of us painfully connects with Jesus here.  There may be people in our families – children or parents – relatives that we have strained – difficult – relationships with – if we have any relationship at all – because we choose to follow Jesus. 

Or at work or school or in our community – out doing the normal stuff of life – we face the increasing likelihood of being verbally abused – rejected – passed over – lied about because of our commitment to Jesus Christ.

There are some here who have suffered injustice simply because they’ve chosen to follow Jesus – to serve Him – to live telling others about Him.

The world loves to hate.  It enjoys its cherished hatreds.  No surprise it loves to relentlessly hate Christians.   Because behind all that is Satan.

Jesus told His disciples, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you.” (John 15:18)

To follow Jesus is to be hated by the world – to become a target of the adversary – Satan.

God is blessing this congregation.  Amen?  People are coming to know Jesus.  Lives are being changed.  There are amazing opportunities for ministry that God is opening up to us.  God is blessing.

More likely than not – Satan is not jumping for joy about all that.  “Alright!  Those people at Green Hills are being blessed by God.  God is using them.”  Satan hates us to the core of we are.

The people Jesus was talking to probably didn’t see themselves on the same level as the Old Testament prophets.  Most of us don’t - see ourselves as legendary spiritual giants. 

But Jesus’ point is that it’s all the same battle – the prophets – a hill by the Sea of Galilee – the cross – the Greater La Habra metroplex.

And no matter how messed up things got – no matter how great the persecution – God didn’t abandon His prophets.  God still blessed and used them.

And as messed up as things are today – in fact Jesus said it would be like this and Jesus said the worst is yet to come.  God will not abandon us.  God will still use us.  We are blessed.

Are we together on all this? 

The blessing of God’s kingdom - God’s blessing us - isn’t some philosophical exercise in religious happy thoughts.  “Blessed are” is way deeper than “Happy are…” 

In the midst of what this world tries to abuse us with – conform us to – beat us down with – in the midst of the survival at all costs – stepping on others – mentality of this world – God offers to each of us something tremendously different.  What only He can offer us. 

His blessing.

His grace and mercy and unfailing love.  His saving us from our sins.  His comfort.  His satisfaction.  His peace.  His approval.  His provision for our lives.  The opportunity to live the flourishing good life of His kingdom – being known by God and knowing Him – living out the very purpose He created us for – for His glory alone – now and forever.

Rejoice and be glad!  Amen?!!?

Processing all that for when we head back out there…  classic cars and bacon and snacks…    

Hang on to this:  We are blessed.  You are blessed.  Turn to someone near you and tell them that: “You are blessed.” 

When Jesus is helping those back then and us today to see what it means to live the flourishing good life in relationship with the sovereign God – to live in His kingdom – Jesus isn’t sharing some abstract theological concept.  He’s talking to people like us – who are trying to live for God out there.

People who are crunched for time.  Who are dealing with issues of stress and fatigue.  Who often feel disappointed in themselves.  Who are scaling back on their dreams.  Who are trying to make it financially.  People who’s bodies are increasingly unreliable.

People who are getting push back for their faith.  Who sometimes wonder where God is in the day to day of life outside of Sunday morning.

We need to hear this and marinate ourselves in the reality of it as we move thought whatever is going on in our lives – the One Who sees us as we are – Who knows our hearts – our hungering and thirsting – and our attempts at mercy and purity and peacemaking – in all of what we fall short of – He love us deeply – and desires for us to live with Him now and forever – in the flourishing depth of quality of life that can only come from Him.

What He asks of each of us is to trust Him and to receive from Him that life.

For you this morning that may mean agreeing with God that your sin separates you from Him – and that Jesus really has come and paid the penalty for your sin – and you need trust God that that is a done deal and to turn from that sin and to give your life to Him. 

To trust what God has done for you in Jesus.  He really is our Savior.

For those of us who have taken that step of trusting Jesus as our Savior and are seeking to yield our lives each day to Him – more often than not – we need to just soak in the reality of what Jesus is teaching. 

Whatever life spews out at us – whatever we may be tempted to think of ourselves – hang onto that reality:  You are blessed.  God loves you and He has come to offer to you the flourishing good life of His Kingdom.

Lastly – today being Father’s Day – speaking as a father – being a father is not easy no matter how wonderful our kids or our wife may be.   Amen?!!?

Being a father is often confusing.  It comes with a lot of self-doubt – the realization of falling short and failure – an awareness of our inadequacies.  And sometimes it involves heartache. 

Maybe your father really did mess up with you or you grew up absent of a father.  Today you may be grieving the loss of your father.

All of that makes fathering harder for us.

I pray that my fellow fathers – and maybe just as men here trying to follow God – that each of us will hang on to the reality of what Jesus is showing us here. 

Whatever box anyone else may try to put you into – even your kids – or your wife – whatever you may be up against or struggling to get through – God has blessed you.  He loves you.  He is with you. 

The more you yield to Him and press into Him – He will be there in whatever it means for you to be a father – to bless you with the flourishing good life of His Kingdom – and to enable you to model that life for your family.

_______________

1. Sky Jethani, Glimpses of Glory, Leadership, Summer 2007

Different translations have been used in this message including a few of my own.  However, the main text, unless otherwise indicated, is quoted from the The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®  (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.