Blessed Are You (Matthew 5:1-10)
Gary McManus, 06/11/2023Part of the God's New Year series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
June 11, 2023 Matthew 5:1-10
Review: Our religion, the Christian religion,
(not Hinduism, not Taoism, not Buddhism.)
is a REVEALED religion. Our religion was
and is a revelation from God.
Many religions of the world are based on
human observation. The Christian religion is based
on our relationship to the one true God.
Our God has revealed Himself to us most fully in
Jesus.
As followers of Jesus, we believe quite a few things
about Jesus—many that Jesus said about himself.
I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)
If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. (John 14:9)
I am the way, the truth and the life. (John 14:6)
Jesus is teaching about spiritual reality. Jesus is teaching a revealed wisdom from the Heavenly Father.
Pastor, as a child, had trouble understanding this
spiritual wisdom. But understanding Jesus’ words can still be difficult. Is Jesus teaching entrance requirements for God’s Kingdom or is Jesus reassuring the crowds that despite life’s reversals, they are blessed by God.
Traditional marriage vows may be helpful here.
Deb and Gary were happy, although poor.
We were blessed because we were together, not because we had money—which we didn’t have. More money would not have been more blessing since the blessing was in the relationship.
It is the same with the Heavenly Father.
Have a relationship with the Heavenly Father and you are already blessed. There is nothing else to do to being blessed, examples:
--Job (see Job 1:21)
--Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus
(See Luke 16:19-31)
If the living God IS our only resource,
then, YOU are blessed. We are not waiting to be
blessed. We are not waiting for a turn of fortune
to be blessed, we ARE blessed already.
We are not waiting for blessing to come when
the politics get straightened around—we are already
blessed. We are not blessed when the persecution ends We are blessed because we stand with the prophets of God.
The other side of those examples are Jesus’ state-
ments about wealth:
--Deuteronomy 6:10-12
--Luke 18:24
--Luke 16:19-31
--the Book of Job
These are REVEALED truths!
The Jewish leadership believed that one could move
toward/qualify for/earn God’s blessing:
--Matthew 23:23
--Luke 18:12
-- Matthew 23:15
--Matthew 23:25
--Matthew 23:28
Reversals in life do not have to affect our
relationship with spouse or God.
Living faithful lives is dependent on a relationship
to the living God, not what the living God might
provide us.
The Sermon on the Mount (nor wedding vow(s))
is NOT a to do list!
Do we love God (the greatest commandment)?
-- Matthew 22:37
--Mark 12:30
--Luke 10:27
“Have faith in God, have faith also in me. Believe
in God, believe also in me.” -Jesus (John 14:1)
Amen.
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