Introduction
According to Nicky Gumbel, there is an article you can find online that
lists all the qualities that people want in their church leaders. The conclusions
are based on the results of a survey that asked people what they think the
perfect vicar or pastor should be like. Do you want to know?
Well, here is what the study
reveals:
·
They give spiritual
leadership from 8am until midnight every day, but are also the caretaker
·
They are
twenty-eight years of age, but have been preaching for thirty years
·
They wear fashionable
clothes, buy good books, drive a new car and give generously to the poor – all
on a low salary
·
They make 15 calls
and visits daily to the housebound and hospitalised, spend all their time
evangelising the un-churched, but are always in the office when needed
·
They bravely
confront sin, but never upset anyone
·
They preach for
exactly twelve minutes
·
They are also very
good-looking!
Fortunately, the
good people of All Saints’ have much more realistic expectations.
The Sermon on the Mount
Today, we’re
starting a series on the first 12 verses of what’s called the Sermon on the
Mount (which is Matthew 5-7). It’s called the Sermon on the Mount because, as 5.1
and 8.5 say, Jesus gave this teaching on a hillside near Capernaum, on the
north east shore of Lake Galilee.
You can identify the
spot pretty well today, not least because someone has gone and plonked a
hideous-looking church building there. If you’ve been there, I’m sure you found
it as hard as I did to visualize the scene, given what’s there today.
Some people think that
what we have in these three chapters, which is about 25 minutes of speech, is
actually several days’ worth of
preaching condensed and pressed down into this more digestible format.
How’s that for an
idea? One sermon that basically takes up a full Bank Holiday weekend! So much
for the twelve-minute sermon of the perfect pastor!
The God of Blessing
But, over the next
couple of months, we’re just looking at the first 12 verses, or what have
become known as the beatitudes, which is just a fancy bit of Latin – it means blessings.
As you can see, verses 3-11 all start with the word “blessed.”
The
first thing I need to say about these verses is that before they tell us what
we should be like, they tell us what God is like. Our God is a God who blesses.
Some people think that God is a curmudgeonly and grumpy old skinflint who wants
to inflict misery on the world.
But the Bible shows
the complete opposite. From the beginning to the end, God delights to bestow his
goodness upon us.
The very first words spoken
over Adam and Eve after God gives them life and breath are words of blessing. “So
God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male
and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and
increase in number’.”
When God called Abraham
he said, “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those
who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on
earth will be blessed through you.”
When God instituted the
priesthood, he said to Aaron, “This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say
to them: ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and
be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.’ So they will put my name on the
Israelites, and I will bless them.”
The first Psalm
begins with blessing. “Blessed is the one… whose delight is in the law of the
Lord, and who meditates on it day and night. That person is like a tree planted
by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not
wither – whatever they do prospers.”
On and on it goes; I
don’t have time to labour the point, but this golden thread of blessing throughout
the Bible, continues until the very last chapter of the last book which says, “Blessed
are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of
life and may go through the gates into the city [of God].”
The Sermon on the
Mount is the first recorded public teaching we have of Jesus’ ministry - and look,
the very first word on his lips is the word “Blessed.”
And when you read these
beatitudes, it’s really good news; you see that they are blessings for the kind
of people who feel diminished by others, for people whom the world dismisses, for
people who might consider themselves unfortunate – or even cursed, blessings
for people who typically feel too unworthy, too low, too insignificant. “God
wouldn’t bless me! Why would God bless the likes of me?”
No, there’s a
blessing for you - especially for you, because Jesus
notices those no one else notices. He sees you, and wants to speak blessing and
favour over you.
The blessing for this
first beatitude is possessing the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.”
God always trying to
give kingdom away. Jesus said, “It’s close at hand, it’s among you, it’s within
you, and your heavenly Father is pleased to give it to you.” The devil wanted
to usurp it. But God wants to give it away.
If you’re poor in spirit
your life will have the fragrance of heaven; you will experience his presence,
his reign, his glory, his power...
Beatitudes – What Are They?
What are these
beatitudes? Let me start by saying what they’re not.
They’re not platitudes. A platitude is a simplistic idea that is (a)
accepted as true by practically everyone and is (b) completely untrue.
Here are a few
examples of platitudes:
·
You're
as young as you feel – no, actually, you’re as old as you are.
·
Every cloud has a silver lining – no, technically, only clouds that partially hide
the sun have silver linings.
·
Life
begins at 40 – no, it doesn’t; life begins at conception (i.e. minus nine months)
·
God needed another angel – no, he really didn’t; God doesn’t need anything and
he has all the angels he wants in heaven
·
Everything
happens for a reason – no, some things in life are just utterly pointless
·
You can be whatever you want to be – no, for example, you can’t be a duckbilled platypus
or a tea towel
Beatitudes are not
platitudes. What are they then?
They are what Billy
Graham called, “beautiful attitudes” – well, six of them are.
1. Six of them are attitudes
of the heart that God looks for in people.
3. They are all perfectly modelled by Jesus. No one
was meeker, more merciful, or purer in heart. No one mourned like he did when
he wept bitterly over Jerusalem and its unbelief. No one has been a greater
peacemaker; he made peace between a holy God and his rebellious, estranged
creation. No one was persecuted like he was.
4. They are all pretty well a direct contradiction of society’s cherished values and
preferred way of life. Society says “assert yourself, have a blast, flaunt what
you’ve got, look after number one, get ahead, treat yourself, and take it easy.”
That, according to Jesus is not the key to a blessed life.
5. They’re about
kingdom values (i.e. they’re about what is eternal, what is going to last, not what
is going to pass away).
The beatitudes are about
what you can expect if you follow Jesus. You can expect blessing. That doesn’t
necessarily mean comfort. Don’t expect fame and fortune. Don’t expect popularity.
You might well experience
things like grief, hunger and persecution. But you will be amply and abundantly
rewarded. It may not all come in this life, but you’ll get so much heaven in your
heart, you won’t have room for it all.
Poor in Spirit
Well, let’s look at the first one today. And it’s a bit of a surprise. You
might think perhaps that it would be good to be spiritually rich but Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.”
What does it mean to be poor in spirit?
It’s not actually defined for us here. You have to look around the Bible a bit
to build up a picture of what this looks like.
Back in the Old
Testament, in Isaiah 57.15, God makes an amazing statement about where he lives.
Where would you say God lives? Here’s what it says:
“This is what the
high and exalted One says –
he who lives forever,
whose name is holy:
‘I live in a high
and holy place,
but also with the
one who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit
of the lowly
and to revive the
heart of the contrite.”
God hangs out in the
breathtakingly glorious and awesomely majestic halls of heaven, far above us
and way beyond us. But you can also find him absolutely at home in the broken hearts
of lowly, self-effacing and simple souls, breathing fresh life and new hope into
them.
In London’s National
Gallery, I'm told there is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Filippino Lippi.
It’s a depiction of Mary holding the infant Jesus on her lap, with two saints,
Dominic and Jerome, kneeling either side.
But there’s
something about the picture. The proportions seem wrong. The hills in the
background appear exaggerated, as if they might topple and fall out of the
frame. The two kneeling figures look awkward and uncomfortable; one is bigger
than the other. All the figures look like they’re floating, a bit like adhesive
stickers put randomly onto a background.
In fact, this
painting was never intended for an art gallery. It was actually commissioned to
hang in a chapel, a place of prayer.
And it’s only when
you drop to your knees and gaze up at the painting from an angle that it starts
to make sense. Some of the foreground merges naturally with the background. And
Mary now looks down intently and kindly as you join the two saints in kneeling humbly
before her Son.
For years, egotistical
and self-important art critics wrote this off as one of Lippi’s minor works.
But it wasn’t the painting that was wrong, it was the perspective of the people
looking at it.
Only from the vantage
point of humbly kneeling, and looking up at it from an oblique angle, can you appreciate
the exquisite and perfectly proportioned masterpiece that it is.
This is what being
poor in spirit is about. It’s seeing ourselves, and seeing Christ, from a true perspective.
It’s not so much thinking
poorly of ourselves, as thinking properly of ourselves. Being poor in
spirit is an acknowledgment of personal spiritual bankruptcy.
It is the opposite of
pride. Pride says, “I don’t need God. I’m fine.” Being poor in spirit says, “Without
God I’m nothing.”
The
18th Century vicar, Augustus Toplady, in his most famous hymn Rock of Ages, sums it up perfectly: “Nothing
in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.”
The Canadian Bible scholar
Don Carson says being poor in spirit is the deepest form of repentance.
People who are poor
in spirit don’t so much feel sorry for themselves, as at the end of themselves;
they are the ones who know from personal experience that when Jesus is all you
have, Jesus is all you need.
When Kathie and I were
young Christians, about 17 or 18 years old, we used to listen to a record by
John Pantry (who’s a radio presenter now) called Empty Handed. It probably sounds a bit cheesy these days, but the
song’s simple words made a big impact on us. This is how it describes Jesus:
He lived among us and never owned much
And he laid aside his life to God's will;
And all we ever put in his hands
Was the cross he bore and the nails that tore.
And empty handed, that is how he wanted me
He commanded I leave my own plans at his feet
'Till I had nothing, nothing of my own,
Then he filled my life to overflowing.
Are your hands empty,
and open? Because that’s the only way they can receive the blessing God wants
to put in them.
The
crooner and actor Frank Sinatra was a 20th century legend, a star. Ol’ blue eyes…
He died on 14th May 1998 at the age of 82. His family, friends and countless
fans mourned him.
His last will and testament
contained about $400 million in assets: houses, cars, land and investments. He was
decorated with 11 Grammys, 4 Golden Globes, an Oscar Academy Award, three stars
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a stack of platinum and gold discs, one of
which was for “My Way”. Contrast this with Empty
Handed:
And now, the end is near, and so I face the
final curtain.
My friends, I’ll say it clear, I’ll state my
case of which I’m certain.
I’ve lived a life that’s full, and travelled
each, and every highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way.
When Frank Sinatra
died, he left behind exactly what you and I will have to leave behind when our
days on this earth are over. In other words - everything.
Just like every one
of us will one day have to do, Frank Sinatra left this world to stand before
the judgement seat of Christ. One day, Jesus is going to say to him, “I am the
way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me, so how
do you think you did, Frank?”
The reply, “I did it
my way” is just not going to cut the mustard. When we stand before the Lord of
Heaven and Earth, all our achievements and accomplishments, no matter how great
or small, will count for nothing.
Only
“Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling” will do.
Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
You might say, “Well,
I want to be poor in spirit. But how do become like that? How can I cultivate that
attitude?”
In James 4 there are
some helpful exercises. This is what it looks like to become poor in spirit: “Submit
yourselves, then, to God,” it says. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Purify your hearts… Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
Ending
As I close, maybe
you’re wondering to yourself, how am I doing? I don’t really know. How poor in
spirit am I? Am I poor in spirit at all? Is this a problem for me?
Maybe I can help you
arrive at a self-diagnosis. I’m going to read out some statements with an
option a and an option b. Where do you put yourself; towards option (a)? Or towards
option (b)? Or somewhere in the middle? Here we go…
When
others do better than me…
a. I get jealous and want
them to fail.
b. I feel really happy
for them.
When other people’s tastes are different to mine…
a. I tend to inwardly
slate them as too posh or too common.
b. I try not to judge
or criticize other people’s tastes.
Number 3:
a. I see myself as
quite a good person really.
b. I see myself as a
sinner totally in need of God’s mercy and grace.
Next one:
a. I wouldn’t be
seen dead accepting help or asking for prayer.
b. I need all the
prayer I can get and I don’t care what people think.
What
about self-image?
a. I worry and stress
endlessly about my image and looks.
b. What’s most
important for me is what I’m like on the inside.
When
other people mess up…
a. I just think “thank
God I’m not them.”
b. I try to encourage
them.
Attitude
(a) is not going to land you a whole lot of blessing in life. It’s just not. That’s
the way it is. Attitude (b), that is to say the be-attitude, (see what I did
there) is one of the keys to living the blessed life God wants you to live.
Let’s stand to pray...
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 6 January 2019
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