SotM: Living Right-Side Up in an Upside-Down World (Page 2)

Matt 5:31-32 This week’s text is a natural follow-on from our study last week as Jesus will once again show that he is the protector of marriage. Divorce painfully breaks relationships and in order to surpass the righteousness of the religious authorities, we need to beware of a hardening heart and learn how to love sacrificially. It’s a love that models Jesus’ love for us when he went to the cross for us. It’s another tough word from Jesus, but remember, he says it because he loves us.

Matt 5:27-30 Jesus loves us. He really loves us. And, he tells us what he tells us in the Sermon on the Mount because he loves us and wants the best for us. This week, he protects the covenant of marriage by showing us that true righteousness, righteousness that surpasses that of the religious authorities, requires dealing with those steps that lead up to adultery, namely lust. It’s a tough word from Jesus, but he tells it to us because he loves us.

Matt 5:21-26 What does it look like to live Right-side up in an Upside-down world? Jesus, the relationship protector, will tackle six heavy topics to show concretely what it looks like for our right-relationships to surpass the Scribes. He begins by tackling anger. How are we to tackle anger? Quickly deal with it (key word = quickly).

Matt 5:17-20 We enter back into the Sermon on the Mount this Sunday. What does it mean to live Right-side up in an Upside-down world? We see the preacher on the mount say in our text this week that it means that our righteousness must surpass that of the scribes & Pharisees. How can that be? Come Sunday to discuss this shocking statement.

Matt 5:13-16 What kind of effect can Beatitude people have on the world? After the Beatitudes, Jesus goes on to describe that very thing by calling Beatitude people the salt of the earth and the light of the world. It has been said that ‘Christians are ordinary people making extraordinary claims.’ With these verses in Matthew, one could turn that saying around like this: ‘Christians are ordinary people about whom Jesus makes extraordinary claims.’ Jesus has a strange confidence in the ordinary people sitting in front of him on that hillside in Galilee. He has the same confidence in his followers today. And, through these two metaphors of salt and light, Jesus reveals his startling assessment of life on this planet. And, what he reveals is just as true today as it was back then. Join us this Sunday as we consider the Beatitude Effect on our culture and in our world.

Matt 5:10-12 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We now come to the eighth and final Beatitude, and it is the consequence of living the Beatitudes: persecution. You can almost hear Jesus say, “Sorry!” as he pronounces this one. Note that Jesus is not blessing those who seek persecution or those who are obnoxious or rude or proud. He blesses those who by find themselves encountering opposition simply by living a Beatitude life. The bottom line is this – the life Jesus provides us will provoke hostility. It provoked hostility for him, and it will provoke hostility for his followers (John 15:18-20). Jesus will go on to make this a double beatitude in verses 11-12. Maybe he knew we wouldn’t like it, and we needed to hear it twice? :) Join us this Sunday as we explore the different parts of this, the last, beatitude.

Matt 5:9 In the wake of yesterday’s election, the culmination of a highly contentious campaign season, our text for this coming Sunday is the seventh Beatitude: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Jesus, being the ultimate peacemaker, calls us to not wage war, but to wage peace. He went and waged peace by going to a cross, in the process praying for his enemies. Paul will go on to say that as far as it depends on us, we are to live at peace with everyone. What an appropriate word for us for this week. Regardless of the outcome of the election, we are called to make peace wherever we go. It is many times not easy, but a cross is not easy either. In fact, the cross is the way to think about peacemaking. Once again, Jesus says that we are to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow him. Peacemaking is one of the ways we take up our cross daily. In peacemaking, we deny ourselves and take great risk. But, so did Jesus. And, the reason peacemakers are called children of God is because they look like him when they make peace. God made peace with us through his Son at great sacrifice, and at great risk to his reputation. As his children, let’s do what we can this week to produce peace in the midst of difficult circumstances.

Matt 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. We come to the greatest promise ever made by Jesus: the pure in heart will see God. The pure in heart are those who are unmixed at the center of their being. The pure in heart have a single, undivided devotion to Jesus. They are Jesus-oriented at the center of their being, leading lives of integrity before him and before others. Notice as well, that Jesus does not say, ‘perfect in heart’. The pure in heart are not perfect in heart, like David, who after his failures prays that God would renew in him a pure heart and renew a steadfast spirit within him (Ps 51:10). And, in the end, the pure in heart will see God. I believe that this is the greatest promise ever made by Jesus. But, in your perspective, is this the greatest promise he ever made?

Matt 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. In this beatitude, Jesus is describing those who, because of their attachment to him, yearn for righteousness ‘as a deer pants for streams of water’ (Ps 42). As we walk down the road of life, Jesus intercepts us on the road. He moves into our lives and begins transforming our appetites. He begins to repair all of our broken cravings. He begins to heal all of our longings, which have been distorted as a result of sin. Instead of ultimately longing for other things, he causes us to long for righteousness instead. What is this righteousness he is talking about? I defined it a few weeks ago simply as ‘right-relatedness’. Righteousness is fundamentally a relational term and begins with our relationship with God, but includes our relationships with others, with ourselves, and with creation. In this beatitude, Jesus takes us right into what it means to be human, made in the image of God. To prepare for this Sunday, you can meditate on Psalm 63 and begin to think about what you really crave. What are your appetites? Are they right-side up or not?

Matt 5:5 We tackle another Beatitude this week – the meek. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Jesus switches the price tags once again with this one. Jesus is saying that it is not the ‘survival of the fittest,’ but the ‘survival of the meekest.’ This is completely upside-down to how the world operates. Take a look at the executives at your company – would you describe them as being meek? Those who are at the top in the sports world – are they meek? Those at the top of politics – are they meek? Maybe they are, maybe they are not. It all depends on how you define meek. And, here, Webster’s dictionary does not help, but Psalm 37 does. So, in preparation for this Beatitude, it would be helpful to meditate over Psalm 37 because it gives us the best definition for meekness. Hope you can join us this Sunday as we aim to discover the blessedness in being meek.