Oh, What

Bliss!

 

527-a

It is a common thing to do. We ask God to “bless” our loved ones, our friends, and those we read about in the church bulletin or hear about from the pulpit who are asking for prayer. And we mean well. We want God to “bless” them.

The problem is: If someone were to ask us what we mean by “Bless Albert” or “Bless Mrs. Sanford” or “Bless that man in the hospital”, we would often find it difficult to define what we are asking God to do. Most would say, “If he is sick, we are asking God to make him well. If he lost his job, we are asking God to give him another one. If she has lost a loved one, we are asking God to take away her grief.” And those are all reasonable sounding requests.

There is, however, a problem. God’s definition of a “blessing” and ours are often not the same. In fact, much of the time, the things we are asking God to take away or make well so that person can be “blessed” are, in fact, the blessings themselves. That means that by asking God to “bless” them based on our concept of blessings, we may indeed be praying for just the opposite: that He would take away their blessing.

With that somewhat disturbing thought in mind, we move into a very strategic part of Scripture; a portion of the New Testament that begins the unfolding of God’s description of the Spirit-filled life. It takes us to a mountainside where a most unusual gathering of people is holding forth in a most unconventional manner, listening to a most unorthodox presentation from the most amazing man ever to address a congregation.

The crux of His message has to do with being “blessed”. In fact, the purpose of His message seemed to be to turn upside down, or should I say “inside out” the entire concept of what makes a man or woman truly happy, or filled with joy. He is about to address something called “a kingdom within”, a totally foreign concept to the mind of man; so foreign in fact that unless an internal change takes place in the human heart this whole idea would be like a foreign language: it would not compute to the natural mind.

Jesus wasn’t speaking, however, to the natural mind. He was building a platform for His Spirit to use in the years to come to explain the difference between external happiness and inner joy; between external cessation of difficulties and inner peace; between external comfort and inner satisfaction with your lot in life. It would be so revolutionary that the very people He was addressing, though impressed with the authority with which He spoke, would question what He was saying as though He had lost His mind. But these were seed-planting times for the Master; seeds that would grow unto life eternal even these 2,000 years later and in all the intervening years between.

The passage is found in Matthew, chapter 5, verses 1-12. It is one of the most familiar passages in the entire Bible, yet I am convinced that it may well be one of the least understood.

Jesus, of course, is the teacher. He begins with the issue of what really makes a man or woman a man or woman of God. He then builds the whole of His ministry and His message on top of that issue. We tend to refer to the opening portion of that message as The Beatitudes, or The Beautiful Life. It is a discourse about the life of men and women who are becoming blessed, totally happy inside. In Genesis 22:15-18, we read that the blessing of God is the logical sequence to the tests of God. That, too, is an important principle. Let’s for a moment go back to that story. Abraham was being called on by God to sacrifice his only son. You are familiar with the test. What we sometimes overlook is what happened when the test was over:

Genesis 22:15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

22:16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

So there came the test, the response, the blessing, and the sharing or the multiplying of the blessing. This is the positive perspective of life's tests. It is the creation and development of God's man, God's mind, and God's ministry in you and in me. It is important to realize, however, that in the New Covenant, the kingdom is internal, not external. Therefore, the “blessings” now become internal or spiritual blessings. It is also important to realize that one of the greatest sources of spiritual blessings are physical tests. This makes understanding the principles involved crucial, yet impossible, apart from the Spirit.

As we turn to Matthew 5, now, we begin to search out the treasures of the “blessed” or happy life. It is a dangerous assignment to approach a group of Christians and ask them if they are happy; truly happy. I don't know how you would answer that. Some of you are. Some of you are beginning to be. Some of you are really happy some of the time, and really unhappy the rest of the time. Before we can either ask or answer the question, first we must ask: “What is real happiness?” Why does God give it to us? How does He give it to us and how do we know we have it? And just what is the difference between “happiness” as the world translates it, and the “blissful” life God is describing here? This is a foundational lesson. Its purpose is to lay a cornerstone, a place from which we can build a superstructure, or a picture of God's “happy” or “blessed” life.

I - The Setting

A- The Writer

Let's begin with Matthew 5,

1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessed are...

Therein lies the entirety of the message. Let’s begin by looking at the writer. Who wrote this epistle? It was, of course, Matthew. Matthew is the presenter of Christ as Israel's Messiah and King; the One who would save His people from their sins. The book of Matthew opens as “The book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the Son of David.” Ten times in the book of Matthew, Christ is called the Son of David, so Matthew ties Him to the throne of God. As we begin reading, the Lord God Himself is outside Jerusalem. Here come the Magi. You see the blindness of the Jews. Strangers are seeking to find Him. The civil authorities are wanting to destroy Him. This prophetic aura in the opening chapters of Matthew helps us to realize, in essence, that the King is coming. His subjects, however, would not recognize Him. As John put it, "He came unto His own, but His own received Him not." Matthew, again, connects Christ with the throne of God. Even in His opening remarks, we begin to realize its prophetic nature.

The Period

What about the timing of this event? It is a pivotal time in spiritual history. The hand of God seems to be hidden from view. From Malachi to Matthew there were 400 silent years. For four centuries God shut His people out to the written word. There were no known angelic manifestations or prophets who spoke for Jehovah. The people were pressed on every side, yet, tradition ruled over spirituality.

Suddenly, the heavens that seemed to have remained silent for 400 years opened. God broke the silence with the beauty of His own holiness, with His own majesty, with the example of His own life, and with the price of His own suffering. God Himself became a man. The King had come to earth for His first visit. The question was "What would the kingdom be like?" The Jews didn’t understand. His disciples didn’t understand. He had to explain. So in Matthew 5, He begins to do just that. Let’s read it again:

1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

The Multitudes

At the end of Matthew chapter 4 we read this:

25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.

Try to picture Jesus at this particular time. The crowds were beginning to gather around Him and follow Him wherever He went. Who were these crowds? I want to share with you just a little of what G. Campbell Morgan wrote to describe these multitudes that were following Jesus in Matthew 5.

“He attracted to Himself all sorts and conditions of men. As the King passed through that region, all kinds of people came out after Him. They crowded after Him. Many of them came to see His works. They were the curious crowd, always attracted by something out of the ordinary. They were the weakest part of the crowd and always the most difficult to deal with. Other men were attracted to Him, not so much by His works, but by His words. But whatever the motive, they came, all sorts and conditions of men. People jostled each other who had never done so before. Pharisees were side by side with publicans. Ritualists were side by side with harlots and sinners. Men of light and leading and the scholarly men of the age were side by side with the illiterate, the degraded and the depraved. The presence of Jesus meant the massing of humanity without any reference whatsoever to the mere accidentals of birth or class or position. Pharisees dropped their quibbling for a little while to listen. Publicans quitted their seats of custom to hear Him. Men forgot everything about divisions. Class distinctions don't live for five minutes in the presence of Jesus Christ, He burns it up with His coming. He is never attracted to a man because of the breadth of his phylactery or the enlargement of the border of his garment. He is never repelled from a man, praise God, by his rags. Underneath the rags and phylactery He sees the man. He is after the man, not his clothes. Men know it and they are always attracted by a man who is after men, so they gather to Him.”

That was the crowd that jostled after Jesus, that crowded behind Him. That was His audience. It says in verse 24:

24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

The Mountain

Matthew 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

We need to look at three things about the mountain.

1- There was no convenient place.

2- This was no special place.

3- This was fulfillment of the plan of God.

1 - There was no convenient place. The Lord Jesus did not have a big church in Jerusalem from which to share His message. He didn't even have a Sunday school class to go to and teach. He didn't have a platform in any place. He simply had people drawn to Himself. He went to a common mountain, and they followed Him there. This was the Son of Man who had no place to lay His head. We read that the scribes and the Pharisees had Moses' seat, and there they corrupted the law. One day, our Lord will teach from His throne in heaven, but while He was on this earth, He had no podium. So, He went up into a mountain and the people heard Him there.

2 - This was no special place. This was not a holy mountain like Mount Zion. It was just a mountain. One of the things that the woman at the well asked Jesus was "Some say we should worship here; some say we should worship there. Which one is right?" Jesus answered her, "One thing you have to understand is that the kingdom of God is born in a man's heart." Jesus, who had been born in a stable and was teaching on a mountainside, is now trying to help man realize, for the first time, that God is accessible and available wherever we are.

3 - This was the fulfillment of the plan of God. Remember, that the law was given on a mountain, so grace had begun to be revealed in the same way. But, oh, what a difference. When the law was given, man went up. When grace was given, the Lord came down. When the law was given, there was thunder and lightning; no one could hear His voice, but one. When grace was expressed, it was in a voice that all could understand and hear. When the law was given, man was told to keep his distance or he would be consumed by the presence of God. When grace was given, man was invited to come. "All ye that labor and are heavy-laden" were called to come and hear. When the law was given, the people were told to keep their distance or die. When grace was expressed, the people were told to come and live. Grace was now available to man.

The Pupils

The message that Jesus was giving on the Sermon on the Mount was not for the multitudes. The message was for the few. But it is so important that we realize that He had to teach the few, only because His heart was with the multitudes. Grasp the meaning of the phrase, "And seeing the multitudes." He saw them with His heart. He had compassion on them. He saw that the whole world was in need of salvation. Because of that, He departed and went up into the mountain and took His disciples. We learn that the multitudes followed after them. The many were there, but He addressed His message to the few. Again, just another word from G. Campbell Morgan in this same regard.

“Do you mean to say that He left the multitude, abandoned the multitude and had no care for the multitude and gave His teaching to a handful? Yes, but He left the multitude in order that He might get back to the multitude. He left the multitude in order that He might equip the men who would obey His law and then show the multitude what the law was all about. He left the multitude that He might begin the training of that company of men who should return and bless the multitude.”

This basically is the principle of the church today. Because His vision was to the many, His message was for the few. Therefore, the few being changed by the message might bring transformation to the many. God's program for today is not a watered down message to reach half of the world and half of the saints at the same time. God's program is an intense, real message to change the lives of the saints, so that they can go forth and do the work of the ministry. Once more, let’s read:

The Position

5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

"When He was set" means two things. The Greek word means literally “to place oneself in the best position to be heard”. Secondly, it means “he sat down to teach”. Many of you are familiar with the fact that the Jewish rabbi would teach as he walked around among the people. But, if he had something official to say, he sat down. The people, then, would also sit down knowing something official, something important, was to be shared. So, Jesus fulfilled the word of Malachi.

Malachi 3:3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver:

It was His custom to do so, as we see in Matthew 26:25, when He said, "Did I not sit daily with you in the temple, teaching?" As He sat, and as He taught, there was an official aura about what He said. His sitting was also a symbol of the fact that He was to one day be the King and the Judge on the throne of God.

The Preeminence of His Teaching

There are 3 things that we need to note here. 1) there was “The Timing of the Message”; 2) “The Importance of the Message”; and 3) we need to notice the “Authority of the messenger”.

Matthew 5:1 when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

Look first, at “The Timing of His Message” . There had been 400 years of silence. The Messiah had finally come to earth. He had 33 years to live, but He did not address the crowd until He was 30 years old. Now we won't have time to explore in depth the real meaning of that passage, but you think about it. From the time He was 12 until the time He was 30, an 18 year period at the prime of His life, we have no record of either a message or a ministry. We see, simply, the development of God in a man. We only read, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:52)

He said nothing until He was ready to say everything. He said nothing until the time was right. That is the reason that people listen to quiet people. When quiet people finally open their mouths, we expect something great to come forth. How important it is that we learn the timing of God in terms of our ability to share and to be involved. We ought to be able to share our lives from the day we are saved. But, rather than project ourselves into the forefront of leadership, the importance of waiting until the timing of God is perfect, should be our aim. Ecclesiastes 3:7, says that there is a time to be silent and a time to speak. In Ezekiel 3 the prophet is told by God:

Ezekiel 3:26 And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be silent...

But Ezekiel also says,

22 Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.

The time was right. We need to constantly remind ourselves of the concept of the timing of God. He moves so slowly. The seconds seem to tick so slowly. But, oh, how perfectly important are the delays. Now God's great period of silence had come to an end. The King had come.

Secondly, look at the “Importance of the Message”, “He opened His mouth.” The literal meaning of those words in the Greek have a twofold meaning. First of all, whenever that phrase was used, it meant that a solemn important utterance was about to come. It was somewhat akin to saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States." Everyone would stop and say, "I don't know what he is going to say, but I'd better pay attention." “And He opened His mouth saying,” usually meant that something of vital importance was about to be said.

The word was also used to mean that the person speaking opened his heart without barrier. In other words, it was used when a person was about to pour out his heart with intimate teaching with no barriers between. You have heard a pastor or teacher at times stand up and say, "This morning I would just like to share with you from my heart. I won't say anything fancy, just what is on my heart." Suddenly, you stop and listen because you know that God has done a work, and that person just wants to share it with you. That is what this word meant, And He opened His heart to them saying. It was something vitally important, and it was all from the heart of God.

Lastly, let's look at “The Authority of the Messenger” in Matthew 7 where we read:

28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

The word “taught” is in the imperfect tense. It describes repeated and habitual action. Many scholars agree that The Sermon on the Mount was the summary, the core and the essence, of the teaching of Jesus. He taught it again, and again, and again. It contained the principles He continually taught to His inner circle. He would say it in different ways, to different people, and get different responses. His basic message, however, was not going to change.

His message was this: the kingdom of heaven was to be in the hearts of men. The message was and is character over circumstances, spiritual over physical. It is not the changing of events or environment, but the changing of men and women to the point that environment and events are stepping stones, rather than stumbling blocks. It was the message of God, and He taught it over and over and over.

II - The Overview

Now what does it mean to be “blessed”?

Matthew 5:2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

5:3 Blessed are...

It is interesting how Malachi ends with a curse, and Matthew begins with a blessing. The law and grace are thus expressed. Grace begins by being poured out to God’s people from the lips of Jesus with the words blessed and happy. Total, complete, self-contained happiness is yours, present tense. It is a gift from God. It is something you can have now and progressively come to enjoy more.

Let's look at the form of this statement: “Blessed are...” Jesus, of course, was speaking in Aramaic. There is no perfect Greek translation for this phrase, “blessed are...” Actually, most of you will find in your Bible that the word “are” is in italics. You cannot literally translate it, but it means, “Oh, the blessedness of the man who is poor in spirit”. Barkley translates it as “Oh, what bliss to be poor in spirit”. In other words, Psalm 1:1 literally translated from the Hebrew is “Oh the blessedness of the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, what bliss is his.” The tense indicates present possession, not just something we will have in heaven, but something we can have now. It is a form of congratulations over a state of spiritual existence.

Secondly, look at the meaning of the word. The Greek word is makarios and it is used by the Greeks to define joy as it was related, most of all, to the gods. It was what they called total self-contained joy. I will give you an example. The island of Cyprus literally meant that here was an island where there is such perfect climate, such rich and fertile soil, that it is literally an island of self-contained happiness. Everything you will ever need is right there. So the word came to mean: joy which has its secret within itself. It was serene, untouchable, self-contained, independent of chance and change. That is “blessedness”.

We can contrast that with the English word “happiness”. The root word gives it away. Hap means chance. Human happiness is something that is dependent on the chances and changes of life. Life gives, and life takes away. You make a lot of money; you are happy. Someone accepts you; you are happy. If you get sick, then you are unhappy. When someone rejects you, you are unhappy. Christian blessedness, on the other hand, is untouchable and unassailable. In John 16:22, Jesus said, "Your joy no man taketh from you.” It is permanent. It is a possession. It is a quality of existence that produces a depth of self-contained joy that is not affected by circumstances.

A Preview

Now, I want to give you a preview of where we are going. This will be an overview while the next lesson will go into more detail.

Matthew 5:2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessed is the man...

In other words, the hand of God upon man showing favor in the spiritual realm results in transformation of perspective. Very simply, blessedness is spiritual favor resulting in unchangeable, spiritual joy. It is the heart of God transferred into the heart of man enabling him to live above the circumstances by living in the spirit.

"And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying..." Would you like happiness like that? Would you like happiness that the world could not assail, that circumstances could not affect, and people could not take away from you? Would you like that state of being where God is in such control of your life, where your perspective is so filled with God Himself, that circumstances are merely events that pass through your life, and cause you to relate perfectly to the mind of God? "Would you like that?" Jesus asked. Here is a list of how to get it. He said, "Blessed is the man who...", and He began His dissertation.

In the next few lessons we will seek together to do a few things. First, each time we deal with one of the beatitudes let's try to see if we cannot take Galatians 5:22-23, the fruit of the spirit, and draw a parallel with the beatitudes. If you line them up side by side, I think you will find that the beatitudes teach you the beauty of the life that is sustained and controlled by God. The fruit of the spirit show you the results of that life as it is expressed. I think we will learn also that to be poor in spirit is the foundation stone. All the rest spring forth from that, just as I believe that Galatians 5:22 literally says that the fruit of the spirit is love, and love expresses itself in a variety of ways such as joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness and temperance. You can take 1 Corinthians 13 as it defines love, and through that chapter find that love is joy, love is peace, love is patience, love is gentleness and so forth.

To get the picture, we may spend a little more time on the first beatitude, because you must have the first one to get the rest. The fruit of the spirit is love, and blessed is the man who is poor in spirit. I believe also, you will find, as we progress, that blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted, and the fruit of the spirit is joy. You may wonder what the relation is between the two. The Scripture teaches that weeping may endure for a moment, but joy comes in the morning. Joy can be the result of weeping. So you and I may find that the qualities of life that God wants expressed in each believer are inter-related, as well, to the beatitudes. 2 Peter 1 is also a parallel passage that is good to look at.

The second thing we want to see is that each time we find a beatitude, we find that The beautiful life is expressed perfectly only in one person, Jesus Christ. So, we find the perfect illustration of one who is poor in spirit in Christ, Himself. We find the perfect illustration of one who mourns, the one who is meek in the person of Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, we will find that the beatitudes are not just an isolated list of blessed personality qualities which God plans to give to man if he is obedient. More than that, this is a stairstep illustration of how to enter more perfectly into the mind of God by grace, and each one builds upon the other.

In closing, we’ll look at an illustration of that. However, first, we need to look at some definitions.

- Blessed are the poor in spirit - he who has humiliation over his sinfulness; his attitude towards self in regards to God.

- Blessed are they that mourn - grief that renders you helpless.

- Blessed are the meek - your attitude towards self with regard to others.

- Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness - the insatiable desire for God-likeness.

- Blessed are the merciful - the attitude of empathy towards others in regard to their needs.

- Blessed are the pure in heart - cleanliness of thought and holiness of nature.

- Blessed are the peacemakers - your position in the body of Christ which is ever healing and never wounding.

- Blessed are the persecuted - the expression of grace given by God to those whose needs are the result of identifying with His life.

- Blessed are those who are reviled - the verbal abuse and defamation of character which accompanies persecution.

We need to look for a progression in this pattern. It should be clearly seen when you write them down in a stairstep manner. For example, by learning to be poor in spirit you are given by God the capacity to really learn to mourn or grieve over sin. As the spirit of God gives you the ability to grieve and mourn over sin, suddenly, you have the capacity for meekness. As the result of that capacity for meekness a greater hunger and thirst after righteousness develops. On and on the process goes.

In addition to that, I believe, there is a stairstep result. If we were to translate the literal meanings of "theirs is the kingdom of heaven, they are the merciful" and so forth, we would find the qualities received are stairsteps of progression to the totality of man's relationship with God.

I would like to share with you a little of how it might read. In the next lesson we will deal with the first of the beatitudes. Blessed, happy, self-contained joy, belongs to the man who learns to become poverty stricken in spirit. Let's see the passage in its totality paraphrased:

Blessed, able to appropriate and enjoy spiritual joy, are you when you, humiliated over your sins to the point of weeping, become meek before both God and man. You long to have that emptiness filled with God so that you can be sensitive to and minister to others with a clean heart in a way that unites the body without malice or guile. All the while, you stand quietly in the onslaught of the enemy. You will have a constant audience with the King who will comfort you, grant you your inheritance, fill you with spiritual treasures, grant you mercy and forgiveness, reveal Himself to you, give you His name and His character, and ultimately, give you all the glories of the Kingdom.

That is the stairstep promise of Matthew 5:1-12. Oh, what bliss; oh, what happiness, is ours. Praise God! It is not the result of what we do. It is a result of what He has done. We must assume His attitudes by choice. That is all. Then, we must be willing to wait for His time and His timing. No, that isn’t natural. It is supernatural; but oh, what bliss awaits us. Oh what bliss indeed. “Blessed are ye” said the Master.And the “ye” includes us.

Blessed are ye, beloved,

Blessed and filled with joy.

God wants to fill your spirit

With all that His grace can employ.

He wants your heart overflowing;

As you but trust Him and pray,

He wants to fill you with “blessedness”,

No matter what life brings your way.

The process may not be easy,

But a loving God knows your need,

And as you respond as He asks you to,

You will be “blessed” indeed!

For Further Study and Application

1- Do you ask God to “bless” people you pray for? What do you mean when you do? When God proceeds to “bless” them with trials, do you doubt that He is answering your prayer?

2- Matthew approached the life of Christ through the lens of His being the Messiah and King. What was the focus of Mark, Luke, and John? Why did God record the same story through four different sets of eyes? What application can you make of this?

3- How would you describe the 400 years prior to Christ’s coming to earth? Why do you think the heavens were so silent? What was the religious atmosphere? Why do you think the religious leaders missed seeing Living Truth when He arrived?

4- Can you imagine Jesus speaking before the multitudes, yet speaking to the few? Can you relate this to today’s struggles in ministering? What was the key to understanding truth?

5- Jesus taught sitting on a hillside or mountain. He had no pulpit to draw people to a place. Yet, wherever He went, crowds followed. Why? How could this truth impact the church in our day?

6- What do you think it means to have “self-contained joy”? What would that mean when trials came?

7- Meditate this week on the beatitudes. Look at the definitions on pages 17 and 18. Search the Word for other uses of these words. Begin a sheet of paper for each. Ask God to help us in the days to come to more perfectly understand what it means to be “blessed”.

 

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Sermon By: Russell Kelfer