Matthew

Last week we began our study of the most famous of Jesus' messages, The Sermon on the Mount.

Math 5:1-11 covers the part of this message know as "the beatitudes."

To get the full impact of what Jesus is saying to us we must first understand His premise which is found in verse 20 which says, "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."

This was a very important and troubling statement to Jesus' followers. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were the "recognized" church leaders of the day. For Jesus to make this statement was to imply that these church leaders had missed what the Scriptures say about Heaven and eternal life.

It is also important for us because we also do not want to miss what He said about God ordained righteousness. To the Pharisees righteousness meant following an extensive set of rules of right and wrong. Jesus taught that it was impossible to "live right" without a totally changed heart and a renewed mind.

The beatitudes are a description of the "Christ centered" life that every true believer should model without really thinking about it. This is so much more than a set of rules that guides our daily lives but rather it is essentially the life of Christ flowing through us.

We talked about the first four of the beatitudes and discovered the following characteristics of these divine attitudes:

Poor in Spirit- we discover that we are nothing without Christ. We are totally dependent upon Him and His power flowing through us in order to produce "works of righteousness."

Those Who Mourn-we weep over our sin because sin so offends God. We weep over the sinner who does not know God because they are "condemned already."

The Meek-the meek will inherit the earth because they have discovered that God is in control of everything. The catch phrase is "Power under Control"(Holy Spirit's control).

Those who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness-Those who are hungry or thirsty are focused on satisfying their hunger or thirst. They will DO certain things to be sure that they are fed. For a child of God we should hunger and thirst for His Word which means that we will Make time every day to feed on the Word of God. God promises us that we will be fed.

Next week we will look at the remaining 5 beatitudes which should reflect the nature of God in the life of His children.

Please do not miss this exciting time in Matthew.

See you Sunday.

randy