January 5th pt2
Matthew 5
The 8 beatitudes are breathtakingly beautiful and simple. They can be seen as a progression…
- Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven To be poor in spirit is to know you are bust spiritually. To come to that place that you have nothing of yourself of spiritual worth before God. Anything other than is pride or works
- Blessed are they that mourn, for they will inherit the earth. One aspect of mourning is when we mourn that we are spiritually bust – that lead to repentance and then comfort by the Spirit as He assures of the grace that Christ has bought for us on the cross.
- Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Meekness is not weakness, not a limp wristed Christianity. Meekness is strength brought under control, like a bridled horse. Humility leads to repentance, leads to comfort leads to the beginnings of the fruit of the Spirit – meekness is a gentleness of Spirit. Strength under control.
- Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. God’s grace fills us and empowers us the more we desire for it.
- Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy As we grow in receiving the gospel of grace we begin to exhibit grace and mercy to others as an overflow and receive more ourselves!
- Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see GodGod is the one who makes us pure in heart, when we put our faith in Christ and one day we will see Him face to face!
- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God An outworking of grace is a desire to bring peace to conflict – to stop gossip, to reconcile when we have hurt someone else, or they have hurt us – in v23 Jesus tells us to go immediately we realise someone has something against us and sort it out.
- Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Persecution is inevitable when we follow Christ. Satan hates us, the world will hate us and Jesus promised trouble! But take heart he also said, because he has overcome!