The Beatitudes: The Lifestyle Jesus Shapes in His Followers

The Beatitudes

The Lifestyle Jesus Shapes in His Followers

 

Part I: Introduction

Today, unlike any other time in the history of the world, followers of Jesus have access to an almost innumerable number of ways to hear good Bible teaching. Where in the past people could primarily only listen to Bible teaching at their local church, or wait for popular evangelists to come through their hometown, this is far from the case in most of the world at the time of this writing in the year 2010. A few examples of tools which are used to distribute biblical messages in culture today in addition to the local church are DVDs, books, radio, television, concerts, conferences, internet blogs, streaming audio and video online, podcasts, and other forms of digital media.
    Even as different forms of communication are born through the continual advancement of modern technology, one method of experiencing good Bible teaching that always remains popular is the attendance of Christian conferences. Conferences abound of all types and sizes for people to go to and enjoy. Within the Calvary Chapel Movement, of which this author is a part, there are probably close to a hundred conferences a year all over the world for people to utilize.
    It's awesome to get together at conferences in a movement like Calvary Chapel. Often times the attendee is able to listen to some of the best Bible teaching available. Yet, in spite of how wonderful conferences and all the cool and innovative ways Christians can listen to Bible teaching today, there probably isn't a Christian in the world who wouldn't trade in their iPod, and every conference experience they've been able to enjoy to be able to sit in on a teaching session which took place on a little hill in the country-side of Israel about two-thousand years ago. In approximately A.D. 33 a group that might be considered some of the most privileged people on the planet got to listen to the greatest Bible teacher who has ever lived just outside of Jerusalem. They had the blessing of listening to Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, preach a sermon! The content they heard Him teach was what is commonly known by Christians all over the world today as, "the Sermon on the Mount."
    The awesome thing is that, while a person cannot go back in time and sit on that hill, they can listen to the words which Jesus spoke as they read the pages of the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus is that good! He made sure that His people through the ages would be able to partake of all the wisdom He shared that day with His disciples by inspiring the Apostle Matthew to record it in great detail in the written word of God, the Bible.
    One of the most impacting sections in the Sermon on the Mount is recorded in the first twelve verses of Matthew chapter five. This passage is home to what are called, "the Beatitudes." The Beatitudes are eight short statements of spiritual truth that are either convicting or comforting to the person who hears them, depending on where they are at in their life with Jesus when they hear them. There is a ton of truth in these words of Jesus to unpack, which is what will be attempted at this point.
    As Matthew began his record of the Beatitudes he wrote, "And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them…" The first thing to note about the Beatitudes is that they encompass teaching that is only meant to be applied to people who have already committed their lives to following Jesus. Matthew states that the audience who was sitting under the teaching of Jesus on that day was comprised only of His "disciples." Disciples were people who had believed in Jesus and chosen to follow His teaching. George Peters described the concept of a disciple as a person Jesus has called, "to a decisive and radical separation from former relationships, positions and ways of life; to concrete association with Christ in daily living; to humble submission to Christ in a life of instruction; to ready obedience to the command of the Master in all matters of life; to conscious imitation of the Master in His life and teaching." It is to a group of this type of people that Jesus taught the Beatitudes.
    This is important to point out because if it isn't understood that Jesus is speaking to Christian disciples a person might think He is teaching works salvation. Jesus isn't teaching how to become a Christian in the Beatitudes; He's describing the marks of a true disciple! The way a person becomes a Christian is faith in Jesus Christ alone. If a person receives Jesus as Savior, their life will begin to display the principles that are described in the Beatitudes.
    The late J.C. Ryle questioned, "Do we want to know what kind of people Christians ought to be? Do we want to know what type of character at which Christians ought to aim? Do we want to know the outer way of life and inner habit of mind which suit a follower of Christ? Then let us often study the Sermon on the Mount." On the one hand Ryle is correct. Christians should seek to live out the principles in the Beatitudes. On the other hand, if Ryle and others who take his approach to teaching the Beatitudes aren't careful, they could lead people to think that the Beatitudes describe the character people need to somehow come up with on their own to please Jesus. This is why this author has the opinion that it is best to study the Beatitudes as general principles that naturally are growing progressively in the life of disciples of Jesus who have been born again by the Holy Spirit.
    Having said all that, it's time to actually get into the Beatitudes themselves. As already mentioned, Jesus taught eight straight forward marks of a Christian side by side with eight blessings that disciples of Jesus will experience growing in their life as they walk with Him.
First of all Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The Greek word which is translated blessed throughout the Beatitudes literally means happy. So, another way to say what Jesus has said here would be, "You're happy if you're poor in spirit, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people who are poor in spirit." What could make a person happier than knowing that the kingdom of heaven in some sense belongs to them?
Well, what does it mean to be poor in spirit? A.W. Tozer has some helpful comments here:

"The blessed ones who possess the kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. These are the 'poor in spirit.' They have reached an inward state paralleling the outward circumstances of the common beggar in the streets of Jerusalem. That is what the word poor as Christ used it actually means. These blessed poor are no longer slaves to the tyranny of things. They have broken the yoke of the oppressor; and this they have done not by fighting but by surrendering. Though free from all sense of possessing, they yet possess all things. 'Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'"

That's an awesome description of what it means to be poor in spirit! People who are poor in spirit may technically own a lot of things, but the posture of their heart is that they own nothing. They recognize that as disciples of Jesus everything they own really belongs to Him. The only thing on the shrine of their heart is Jesus Himself, not even the blessings He gives! The person who has such a heart owns the kingdom of heaven. Even if they were to lose all literal material blessings in this life, they have the kingdom of heaven spiritually right now, and they may look forward to enjoying Jesus for all eternity.
    So looking at this first beatitude we have to ask ourselves some questions: Are we poor in spirit? Do I really see everything in my life as the possession of Jesus Christ, because I myself am in fact a possession of Jesus Christ? Do I look at my daughter and wife and see possessions of Christ? Do I look at my house and see a possession of Christ? Do I look at my bank statements and see the finances of Christ? Does His ownership over these things mold in the slightest way how I steward them all? Do I find myself simply using my own logic to decide where "my money" or "my time" or "my resources" should go, or do I consult Jesus on His desires for the use of all these things as the default habit of my life?
    If our lives are defined by a growing pursuit and experience of saying "yes" to the above questions, we are people whom Jesus is making poor in Spirit. We are growing in these things because we know that no matter what we have or loose in this life we have "the Kingdom of God" because we have the God of the Kingdom in our lives! If you don't feel your generally living the life of the poor in spirit I would encourage you to seek the Lord with me now. Ask Him to show you the deep value you have as an owner of the Kingdom of God because of your relationship with Jesus Christ, the king of the Kingdom, so your heart can be set free from clinging to the fleeting things of this life that tie us down and even render us fruitless. When the Son sets us free, we're free indeed!

    Lord Jesus, help us understand afresh today the treasure we have in You. Help us truly live in the reality that Your kingdom belongs to us because we belong to You. Let this better reality purify the desires and affections of our easily tempted hearts. Knowing that You'll answer with freedom, and in Your good name we pray! Amen!