Bible Talks - Sunday Night Church
Series: A Mountaintop Experience · Talk No. 1
The problem with being blessed
Sunday, 23 July 2006
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1. Intro – “I’m an alien!”
I have a confession to make.
I was once an alien.
Hard to believe, I know, that this handsome countenance was once an alien, but it is true.
It was one day in 1989 that I changed. I changed from being a ‘resident alien’ (a wonderful phrase, that conjures up images of the extras in 'Men in Black') to being a fully fledged, fair dinkum citizen of Australia.
I wonder who here is not a citizen of Australia?
And I wonder if anyone here is a duel citizen – of Australia and another nation? Duel citizenship is a strange thing to me – it like you can’t make up your mind where you want to live: on this side of the world, or on that side!
But of course, being a citizen of a nation can mean different things at different times. For example, being a young, male citizen of Israel at the moment probably means you have received your military call up papers this week.
Being an Australian citizen in Lebanon this week has probably meant long hours and much frustration trying to organise transport out of that country.
Even taking on citizenship can be a strange thing. All I did to become a citizen of Australia was to raise my hand and repeat an oath of citizenship. I do remember that it mentioned God and the Queen, but today both God and the Queen are left out. And people are left with a very simple ‘affirmation’ pledging “my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey.”
But while we struggle with these questions of citizenship in a human and political sense, we tonight start a series looking at a part of the Bible that is all about citizenship. But not citizenship of Lebanon, or Australia. It’s all about being a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
The backdrop of this goes situation goes back a very long time. We’ll get a glimpse of that shortly, but it’s all tied up with Israel as the people of God, and how they saw their relationship with God. By the time Jesus arrived on the scene, Israel was at a national low point.
They had never really recovered from the exile to Babylon and the destruction of Jerusalem, and now they were under the thumb of the hated Roman Empire.
The people of Israel are longing for something better. The people of God are longing for the much promised kingdom of God to come – the restoration of the golden age of the Kings of Israel. They’re longing for God to step in and put everything right.
2. Enter Jesus
Into that situation... comes King Jesus. Except that he doesn’t look or act much like the King that the people expected. He’s out there, preaching in the wilderness saying, repent. because the Kingdom's very near now.
Here's Jesus, withstanding the testing of the devil like Israel always should have.
Here’s Jesus ushering in a radical new Kingdom – the Kingdom that Israel’s been waiting for but will struggle to recognise.
And one of the first things he does is recruit his leaders – the first of his disciples (4:18-21), and then takes them on a whirlwind tour of Galilee demonstrating the power of the new King and his kingdom (4:23-25).
And the new King is popular. So popular, that people travelled for up to two weeks on foot to see and hear him, and perhaps be healed by him.
And with all that happening around him, Matthew 5 starts with Jesus sitting down on the mountainside, and beginning to teach.
It’s teaching meant primarily for his new disciples, and it’s purpose was to teach the disciples how to fish for men. He was changing them from being fishers of fish to fishers of men, and the whole sermon on the mount is a key part of that process. It’s teaching with unparalleled authority as the King of this new kingdom. But he was also teaching them about the crowds, the people that pressed around, because the key message of the whole address, the message that filters all the way through the whole sermon, is the words we happen to have in 6:8 “Do not be like them…”
We’ll see how that is the message of this sermon as we unravel it over the next few weeks.
It’s the message that says the disciples need to be different. Different to the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, in the next section of chapter 5. Different to the hypocrites that chapter 6 speaks of. Different to the Gentiles and pagans and their attitudes to materialism also in chapter 6. Different to the false prophets and the popular religious movements in chapter 7.
It’s all about being different.
To be a member of this new Kingdom is to be different, to stand out from the people around you.
And so Jesus starts off with a bit of a history lesson about the blessings of God:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs... is the kingdom of heaven."
3. The problem of being ‘blessed’
The B – what?!
Now, right away we have a couple of problems here. We have developed the habit of calling these first 12 verses the Beatitudes. A word that very few people know the meaning of!
‘Blessing’ is also a funny word that we struggle to understand. It’s not the same as ‘happy’. The closest we can get to it in modern Australian is ‘How lucky…’ – but as Christians we don’t believe in luck, so that doesn’t really work!
It actually means something like ‘The life that’s worth envying’, the ‘good life’, a life lived God’s way in the Kingdom of heaven.
The ‘norms’ of the Kingdom.
In fact, the Beatitudes lists out for us a number of things that we could call the ‘norms of the Kingdom’. The way that life should be lived in God’s kingdom.
They all follow the same little pattern: ‘blessed are X for theirs is Y’ [read example]
But in case you think this is new, radical stuff, Jesus was not being original here. These are all O.T. blessings.
All of them have a clear lineage back to the O.T. and now, all these great blessings of God promised to His people centuries before, are to be fulfilled in the new kingdom.
eg: Psalm 37:11 “But the meek will inherit the land…” (NIV) Others are a bit more hidden, but Jesus brings them all together, right here. This is all part of the announcing of the new kingdom: Jesus is saying: All the things that the prophets were longing for and looking for are now here!
But being old doesn’t change the radical nature of these sayings.
I mean, being “poor in spirit” is pretty counter cultural even today. It doesn’t sound like something in a corporate assertiveness training manual.
Being ‘Meek’ isn’t something most people teach their children.
Not of this world
In fact, none of the things the Beatitudes speak of are things of this world.
Take the example of v4 “"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
We don’t say ‘blessed are those who mourn’ We say ‘blessed are those who are happy’.
Now turn back to 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 broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,
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.
They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations. (ESV)
Who are those who mourn in the OT?
It’s the people of God who mourn the judgement that has fallen on them! Is 61 was written about the exile to Babylon: he’s saying ‘ They ask us to sing the songs of Zion, while we are living in captivity in Babylon! No, we mourn for the day when the Kingdom of God will be built!”
Jesus is saying blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. It’s all to do with the destruction of Jerusalem, the exile to Babylon and a longing, a yearning, a thirsting for a time of righteousness, when God’s people would realise their sin and turn and live in a way that honours God…
This is not a verse to print on a funeral directors business card, or even to read out at funerals, as I’ve heard happen!
These blessings are the blessing of life lived in the Kingdom of God.
They are not alternatives, so you can choose the second one, but not the fifth. They form a whole picture of what it is to live life as a citizen of the Kingdom of God. They are what is ‘normal’ in that Kingdom.
And they are a box set, bracketed beginning and end by the same blessing in v3 and 10 - where the Kingdom of heaven is promised as the blessing.
So those who are poor in spirit, and those persecuted in righteousness are the citizens of heaven. But that’s not what you would expect, is it?
The poor in spirit are the contrite and humbled people, and the persecuted don’t exactly sound like winners either. But to them belongs the blessing of membership of the Kingdom of God.
Note also how all the other blessing between v3-10 are all in the future. “for they will …”, whereas v3 and 10 are in the present tense.
So those you are poor in spirit are in the Kingdom of heaven now. But those who are meek, they will inherit the earth – in due course, in the future.
4. The sting in the tail
But v10 has a real sting doesn’t it? Ask almost anyone in Australia today, and they will say that the important thing in life is to be happy. They will express that in different ways, but the crux is usually the same.
But Jesus says a blessing of his kingdom is to be persecuted! He says, to be persecuted is the good life under God!
Think about it a bit tough, and it does make sense:
If the world is an evil, sinful place, and if you are in that world and are blessed by that world (as opposed to be blessed by the Kingdom of God), then it follows that it’s because you are part of the rebellious, evil sin that characterises the world.
Whereas, if you are hated and despised, it’s probably because you are not part of the evil of the world.
When the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) was chaired by Alan Fels, he was hated by corporate Australia. He had death threats, hate mail, and more thrown at him. Why? Because he stood up to the corruption and evil conduct of businesses and their executives.
Alan Fels, isn’t a Christian to the best of my knowledge, but the point is still clear.
Or take the situation of a Christian woman at a previous church who worked for office in the city. At the end of her first year there, she got a $3,000 bonus, and she asked about paying tax on it. She was told, that she didn’t need to do that. It was a bonus, enjoy it!
But she checked with her tax agent and sure enough, it was taxable, and when she reported that, she instantly became the most unpopular person in that office. People there had been taking their bonus for years, and enjoying it tax free, and now because of her, they would have to pay tax on it!
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” (NIV) because that’s a sign that you are a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, and not of this world.
When you are popular in this world, it’s a sign that you are a citizen of this world – this evil, corrupt, fallen world – and such a citizen is not a person of morality or integrity.
So Jesus has quickly but very powerfully summarised what it is to be a normal citizen in a most unusual Kingdom – His kingdom. And this was the introduction for the disciples, in what is MTS (http://www.mts.com.au) first-century style. This is the grand-daddy of all MTS training days, this was the start of training them to become fishers of men.
But even Philip Jensen when he’s on a roll at Challenge Conference doesn’t paint as dramatic a picture of life as a citizen of the Kingdom of God as Jesus does here:
Lesson One in their training is: You have to be persecuted. You will be hated, reviled, rejected and knocked around - just like most of the OT prophets were.
And then Jesus moves into v13, which most people see as a different topic, but really, you should ignore the heading in your Bible and see it as a smooth follow on…
5. Salt and Light
“You are the salt of the earth… you are the light of the world”
Familiar words, but what do they mean? What does it means for the disciples to be salt and light?
Now most people here take the two best known functions of salt –as a flavour and as a preservative - and so most people see this as meaning that followers of Jesus add flavour to the whole community. Or that they are like salt in that they preserve the moral fibre of our society. Or that they are to be like light and teach the truth, shed light into darkened minds.
Nice ideas, and not untrue, but I think they miss the main point here.
When we think about what it means to be the salt of the earth, we get sidetracked by the main uses for salt that we are aware of – taste and preserving. But in biblical times, salt had many more uses. For example:
Salt was used as a currency to pay taxation.
Salt was rubbed all over new born babies as a symbolic thing to drive away evil spirits.
Salt was used to destroy people’s land – large amounts were spread over fields so that nothing grew there. So salt was – in some instances – a symbol of cursing.
Salt was used as an antiseptic in animal feed – as it still is in the form of salt licks for cattle and other livestock.
Salt is used as a fertilizer. A little mixed in with animal manure and other organic matter actually enhances those things.
Salt was used to symbolised friendship, and so it goes on…
The point is, salt had many uses and ideas attached to it in the ancient world – which one is Jesus alluding to here?
Looking at the other analogies here, Jesus refers to his disciples as not only salt, but as light, and they are also like a city on a hill.
So what have all three images got in common? The salt, light and city on a hill?
The second two are all about the uselessness of lighting a light and them hiding it. And the impossibility of ever being able to hide a city on a hill.
And the salt: it’s uselessness if it loses it’s distinctiveness. If it is no longer salty, then it’s of no value at all.
Standing Out
So when a light is dimmed or hidden, and when salt loses it’s saltiness, there’s no point having either. But with the city on a hill, there’s nothing you can do to hide it or diminish it! It will always stand out.
So what the essence of what of Jesus is saying here? The need to be distinctive, to be different. The uselessness (in Kingdom of God terms) of being like everyone else.
The impossibility of being a disciple and being like everyone else. The necessity to stand out against all the rest around you!
That is why they will be persecuted. That is why they will be hated. Because like the prophets of the OT, they will stand out like sore thumbs in their society.
You can’t be a popular disciple.
You can’t be mainstream popular in a fallen world as one of God’s people.
It’s an impossibility. For once you become part of the mainstream fallen world you are like salt that’s lost it’s saltiness. You are like a light that has been covered up. You very reason for being there has gone!.
And so, in v16 they are to “…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (ESV).”
How are they to stand out? Well it says through their ‘good works’. But these are unusual good works.
When you do something you would class as a ‘good deed’, someone usually thanks you for it. But when people see these disciples doing their good works, they’re not going to praise the disciple, but rather praise God in heaven for it.
So when people look at these disciples doing their thing, they are going to say ‘God is at work in their lives’
These will be God-inspired good works. Things that will make them look odd, and stand out, and draw attention to God rather than themselves.
This is the key idea of the whole sermon again. Be different. Stand out. Show that your Christianity, your spirituality is real, is authentic.
Christians aren’t Christians because you have a fish sticker on your car or a WWJD bracelet on. Christians are Christians because the way they live is supernaturally different .
And that’s the sting of the salt for the disciples.
Jesus says: If you live this way, you will be hated and persecuted.
You want to be popular? Be a focus of the attention all these crowds? Don’t be deceived. I’ve come as the suffering servant , I’ve come to be sacrificed, martyred on the cross.
And the Kingdom that I usher in will bring persecution to all it’s citizens. You will be divinely different… and therefore hated and persecuted.
Reality check
The sermon on the mount is a major reality check for the disciples. And it’s an even bigger one for us.
For Jesus’ words here are just as much addressed to us as to those first century fishermen. Take heed. If you are just coasting along on Jesus’ coattails, enjoying the ride, pay attention to where he is going and be sure you want to go there too.
For those of us doing our best to be good citizens of God’s kingdom – these words are a powerful reminder of what that really means – and a prelude to even more challenging and inspiring words to come in the rest of the sermon.
