Blessed To Be A Blessing Lesson 2

 

We are doing a verse by verse Study of the “Beatitudes” found in Matthew 5:1-12.

As a bases for these lessons I am using a little book, “Blessing From Above , A Deeper Look at the Beatitudes”, by Katherine Hart.

It is a series of devotionals based on these verses.

 

What does the term “beatitude” mean?

derived from Latin beatus "happy, blessed"  Supreme blessedness or happiness.

 

Jesus told his disciples in John 14:12. "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

We cannot do the works that Jesus did, if we do not know what He did for us, what He has given us and how He expects us to live on a daily basis.

 

Interestingly, the Sermon on the Mount is just what this is.  It is Jesus teaching his disciples how to take the laws etc of the Old Covenant and apply them to the new Covenant and the new way of life.  He was telling them how to live their daily Christian life. For this to have any meaning, the attitude of the heart has to be

addressed first and this is just what Jesus did with the first twelve verses of chapter 5 of Matthew.

 

First a little history.

The Gospel of Matthew serves three purposes, it is written to the Jews from a Jewish perspective, to prove to Jewish readers Jesus is the promised Messiah and King, proves His legitimate authority by highlighting his wise teaching and righteous life and the third and one we will concentrate on is outlining the characteristics of the kingdom of God both for Israel and the church.

 

Jesus refers to himself several times as the “Son of Man.”  I believe he did this to show us how a man should conduct himself in the now kingdom of God. Yes it has other implications, but I want us to concentrate on Jesus’ humanity. He walked on this earth as a man to show us how to live a kingdom life on earth, doing what he did only greater! He had to do this as a “spirit filled man.” Not a God.

 

So back to our definition, a beatitude is the supreme state of happiness or blessedness.

 

Last week we used the Amplified Bible to define the first blessed in verse 3.

 

We defined it as: “happy, to be envied and spiritually prosperous-with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s salvation, regardless of their outward conditions”.

 

I find it interesting that it is a little different in verse 4;

 

Matthew 5: 4.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

 

The Amplified Bible says: ⁴ Blessed and enviably happy [with a ^[d]happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace

 

We talked about “poor in spirit” meaning truly realizing our total emptiness without God. Getting rid of all our pride and truly realizing how much we need God and what that means to us.  When we realize that we can be happy in our life no matter what our state is.

 

Today Jesus tells us it is a little different.

 

We are blessed and enviably happy with a happiness produced by really experiencing God’s favor and understanding His matchless grace.

 

Grace is defined as “the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.”

 

So God’s grace and favor are part of the blessing for those who mourn.

 

So who are “those who mourn” and what is mourning?

 

Of course we automatically think of mourning in relation with death.

So in that regard it does mean to “Feel or show deep sorrow or regret for (someone or their death),”

 

We have all experienced death. The death of a loved one or close friend.

I don’t care how prepared we think we are, we are never ready.

Praise God as believers we have the eternal hope of glory. That our loved one if they are a believer is in the presence of the Lord and this is what comforts us.

 

Mourning is an emotion created by God. He uses times of mourning to help us grow.

Actually when you think about it, God uses everything in our lives to help us grow.

Aging in inevitable, physical growth is inevitable, but spiritual and emotional growth are choices. We choose to grow and become mature. We choose it, God does not do it too us.

 

So we all experience mourning in relationship with physical death, but Jesus is talking about so much more here.

 

Another definition of mourning is -Feel regret or sadness about (the loss or disappearance of something): here again we are dealing with loss.

But I submit to you it is also the regret or sadness in relation to our sin.

 

Jesus told us we had to be “poor in spirit” , to realize our need for Him, before we could inherit the kingdom of heaven.

 

Now he tells us we can’t go to the next step until we realize our sin and be regretful of it.

 

Have you ever really looked at it this way?

 

We have to mourn over our sin before we will turn to Christ and accept Him as our Savior and Lord.

This is the first step to being comforted, we have to recognize our sinful state and be deeply regretful of it and the go back to the first step and realize the only way to be comforted is to realize our need for Jesus!  Amen?

 

This is the step that all believers must take.  We each had to look at our lives, realize what a mess they were and then regret it. We must feel sadness over our sin.

If we cannot do that, we can never truly repent. 

 

How many times as a child, did your parents make you apologize to someone, and you did it, but really didn’t mean it?

 

I know when my brothers and sister and I fought, we would have to stand there and tell them we were sorry, when we didn’t mean it for a minute.

 

That is how we are, in the flesh.  That is why Jesus builds on each of these blessing as steps. We have to realize our utter need for God and then realize our complete sinfulness before we can inherit the kingdom and be comforted.

 

And when we turn to Him, he comforts us.

 

Psalms 119: 49.  Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.  50.  This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

 

1 Corinthians 1: 3.  3.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,  4.  who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

 

Comfort can be defined as encouragement, whether by words or the presence of another to help in time of need. Synonymous words are console, help, give relief, cheer up, exhort, and fear not.

 

That is what Jesus is, our help in time of need. Our need at this moment is our extreme regret for our sins. Jesus comforts us with his presence in these times.

 

But you see, we just don’t mourn at the time we realize our sinful state and accept Christ,  but we have to continue to have a mournful heart all through our lives, as we go about our lives, so that we can mourn over our sins and repent from them.

 

You need to build yourself up in the Lord every day, in the good times, so that when a time of mourning comes, you are strong enough to endure it.

Amen!

 

We also have to mourn the sins of others, the sins of the world.  That is what stimulates us to pray for our family, friend and even strangers.

It is what stimulates us to pray for our government, our country, the state of the world.

Having a mournful spirit is having a compassionate spirit.  Jesus was always moved with compassion. He would not have been able to walk in compassion and love if He were not capable of mourning sin and the needs of others.

 

So you see, “Blessed are they who mourns” is so beyond mourning the loss of someone through death.  It is so much more than grieving for the loss of a loved one.

It is grieving for the absence of God, it is grieving for the presence of sin in our lives.

It is grieving because we have broken God’s heart.  It is realizing we cannot be comforted until we reach this place. 

I think this is why many Christians do not have peace in their live, because they have not grieved for their sin.

So we are blessed when we experience God’s favor and grace through mourning.

Then and only then are we comforted.

 

I want to remind you of this verse in Ephesians.

If you take nothing else from this class, please imprint this on your heart and mind.

 

Ephesians 6: 10.  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

 

The end result of understanding the “Beatitudes” is that you realize you are strong in the Lord and the power of his might.