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The Beatitudes (pt.2)

The Beatitudes (pt.2)

Nov 19, 2023

Passage: Matthew 5:1-12

Preacher: Rob Holster

Series: Gospel of the Kingdom

Summary:

Last time we were introduced to the most famous sermon ever delivered: The Sermon on the Mount. The preacher was Jesus. The subject was the nature of the Kingdom–of His Kingdom–the Kingdom of Heaven. The first part of that sermon is what we call "The Beatitudes," and most people wonder what a beatitude is? Is it an attitude of being? Not quite. It's more like blessedness. It comes from the Latin word, beatitudo, which means happiness or blessedness. So the the beatitudes are statements of blessedness–or statements of happiness. And that seems right because that's exactly what they are. Jesus begins this sermon with these statements: blessed are the poor in spirit...blessed are those who mourn...blessed are the meek, and so on. Simple, right? Just be poor in spirit and be blessed. Or just be meek and be blessed. Only it's really hard. It's hard to even see how these are blessings. They are paradoxical. Typically, we would think that being poor in spirit, or meek, or in mourning is bad–these are negative things. But Jesus is turning our world upside down, or at least our way of thinking. Romans 12:2 says in the New Living Translation, "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think..." Other versions say, "be transformed by the renewal of your mind." The only way the words of Jesus will make sense is if our minds are renewed–if we allow him to change the way we think. Jesus begins the sermon the way many sermons begin–with an attention-getter. He pronounces the very people we think are lowly–as blessed. He declares that the ones we think have failed at life, who are not strong, who are very unhappy–he calls them happy and blessed. It just doesn't make sense.

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