The Beatitudes

The Beatitudes

The Beatitudes are descriptions and commendations of the good life. --R.T. France

What is the Sermon on the Mount and how should we approach it?

The truth lies in neither extreme position. For the standards of the Sermon are neither readily attainable by every man, nor totally unattainable by any man. To put them beyond anybody’s reach is to ignore the purpose of Christ’s Sermon; to put them within everybody’s is to ignore the reality of man’s sin. They are attainable all right, but only by those who have experienced the new birth which Jesus told Nicodemus was the indispensable condition of seeing and entering God’s kingdom…Only a belief in the necessity and the possibility of a new birth can keep us from reading the Sermon on the Mount with either foolish optimism or hopeless despair. --John Stott

We must be very careful to never separate the Sermon on the Mount from the Preacher on the Mount. If you separate the Sermon on the Mount from the Preacher on the Mount, then the sermon goes off the rails…Separate the Sermon on the Mount from the Preacher on the Mount, then the sermon becomes either frustrating idealism or oppressive legalism…The Sermon on the Mount is neither idealism nor legalism, but is life as it is when the Preacher on the Mount gets ahold of us. --Darrell Johnson

The sermon is not how we achieve salvation; it’s how we demonstrate it. Those who have truly been transformed by Jesus resist the cultural norms around them. Thus, the sermon is a litmus test to help us assess whether we are following Jesus or someone else. --Rich Villodas

What are the Beatitudes and what do they teach us?

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Psalm 34:6

As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God! Psalm 40:17

Freedom from pretension, gentleness and patient endurance of injury—where it is proper to endure. --John Broadus

I thank Thee first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth because it was I who was robbed, and not I who robbed. --Matthew Henry

Mercy is broader here than just the forgiveness of specific offenses: it is a generous attitude, which is willing to see things from the other’s point of view and is not quick to take offense or to gloat over others shortcomings. Mercy set aside society’s assumption that it is honorable to demand revenge. --R.T. France

God’s mercy comes first. Then, after living within that gift of mercy, we learn to pass it on to others. --Rich Villodas

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. 5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Psalm 24:3-6

If people can be taught to hate, then they can be taught to love. --Betsie Ten Boom

You must tell people what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still. They will listen to us Corrie, because we have been here. --Betsie Ten Boom

Four Lessons:

1) The “Good Life” is a God focused and God centered life.

2) The “Good Life” looks like becoming a person of love.

3) The “Good Life” is seemingly upside-down and is cruciform in nature.

4) The “Good Life” begins now, but is not fully realized until later.

For Matthew’s Jesus “the promises lie in the future [but] the joy about them in the present”. In the kingdom there will be a complete turnaround: those now on top will be on the bottom, and those now the lowest of the low will be lifted very high. All nine promises in the Beatitudes speak of the Great Reversal at the Last Judgment. --Dale Bruner