I’m going to ask you a question right off the bat, today. I want you to think about this.  If I asked you what it looks like to be blessed, how would you answer that question?  When you think of someone who is blessed, what comes to mind?  Health?  Wealth?  Success?  Happiness?  I ask you that because today we study The Beatitudes, which are nine statements Jesus makes about when we are truly blessed.  This is how Jesus starts his famous Sermon on the Mount, and I’m just going to warn you: what Jesus says a blessed life looks like is very different from how we picture it. So, think about what it means to be blessed as we get started today. 

Last week, Ken opened our study of the Sermon on the Mount.  We are calling this series Rethinking Our Faith because Jesus shows up and teaches how God wants us to live; it radically changes everything we may have understood about what it means to live as a Christian and follow Jesus.  We have a way of seeing life and doing things that feels so right to us. Jesus challenges that and wants us to do things that can look and feel the opposite of how we think we should do things.  This is why it can be difficult to hear, accept, and live out the faith life Jesus is leading us into.  This is why Ken told you last week that the Sermon on the Mount can feel so wild to us: Jesus is introducing us to God’s Kingdom. It is challenging to hear, accept, and live out, but when we do, we finally experience the very life Jesus told us He came to give us.  God’s Kingdom is so different from the world we live in and have gotten used to that, even if life isn’t going the way we hope, dream, or want…we still struggle to accept God’s way of thinking and living.  I mean, so much of Jesus’ teaching seems almost foolish to us.  Want some examples?  Turn the other cheek when someone strikes you?  When someone tries to take your shirt, give them your coat, too?  The way to find yourself is to lose yourself and find Him?  Love your enemies, pray for those who hurt and persecute you?  What?  We will feel that today as we jump into the Beatitudes, where Jesus explains who is truly blessed. I’m just going to tell you now: He has a different definition of blessing than this world does!  Everything in God’s Kingdom is just opposite to what we think it should be, and scripture says that is why, without God living in us, it will appear silly or foolish.  Ken and I were recently talking about this challenge we humans face when it comes to living out God’s ways.  It’s amazing. Even if we can admit life isn’t working well, or that our lives are a mess, we're still comfortable doing life our way, and we can almost scoff at how God’s Word would tell us to live.  It can feel crazy to live the life Jesus teaches.  As we talked about this, Ken pointed out that scripture addresses this too…

1 Corinthians 2:14 But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them, and they can't understand it… NLT   

God’s word tells us that people who have pulled away from God and live for themselves will look at God’s way of living and think it is foolish, almost crazy, to live out.  It just won’t make sense to them.  Doesn’t that describe how people view God’s way of living today?  We live in a world that continues to push God away and scoffs at living as God says we should live, but can we talk for a moment about the condition of people today?  How is living our way, rather than God’s way, going for us?  Let’s be honest. We are hurting and struggling.  But we are also living in a time when, by the world’s standards, we are more blessed than ever before.  We have more stuff, more information, more wealth, more convenience than ever before, but we are also seeing more distraction, more addiction, and more inner struggles than ever before.  We have more connectivity and ways to communicate than ever before, while loneliness, isolation, and escapism are growing issues in our culture today.  We have more people struggling in their inner worlds, struggling with mental health issues, than ever before, especially anxiety and depression, with anxiety being called the fastest-growing disease of the Western world.  The latest studies show that up to 60 million adults in America today are in some form of treatment for depression, anxiety, or mental health concerns, with 60% of men and 50% of women experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder from previous trauma.  So, at a time of unprecedented wealth, comfort, and convenience, which to us looks like a blessed life, we aren’t getting better as a people; in many ways, we are getting worse.  We look great on the outside, and on social media, but internally, we are not ok. Last year, I read Dopamine Nation by Dr. Anna Lembke, and her findings on mental health and happiness are fascinating.  Here are just three of her findings that I keep thinking about.  First, richer countries have been found to have higher rates of anxiety than poorer ones.  Second, the number of new depression cases worldwide increased significantly in the last 25 years, with the highest increases seen in high-income regions, especially North America.  And the latest studies show that the steepest declines in self-reported happiness scores are found in the wealthiest nations, such as the USA, Belgium, Canada, and Denmark. 

So, what is going on here?  Why are people struggling so much when they look so…well, so blessed?  I know I’m not painting the rosiest picture here today, but we need to see this.  Life is so hard, and if life teaches us anything, it is that it is too hard and too big for us to do on our own; we need Jesus in our lives.  We think we can do it, work harder, push through more, and just will ourselves to our best life possible, but we can’t, which is why Jesus tells us that self-help is no help at all.  Our world proves this to be true.  Think about how popular self-help is and how much we do it; if it worked, the world would look very different.  The way to experience all we want in life just isn’t working our way.  But we keep pressing on, searching for these blessings as we see them, while thinking God’s ways are silly or foolish. The reality is, to experience the life we want, we must surrender our will and embrace God’s Kingdom in our hearts, minds, and souls.  We want you to see this: Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, introduces God’s Kingdom to us as something we can have inside us.  In our world, we think from the outside in; the world tells us to take care of the outside first. God’s Kingdom is from the inside out, and Jesus teaches that it’s all about the heart.  It’s always the opposite, and that really leads us into today’s study.

So, Ken told us last week, Jesus climbs this hill, and the committed climb with Him.  When Jesus gets to a quiet place, He sits down and begins to preach this famous sermon.  Does he start with a big story about His life or a funny joke to warm up the crowd? Nope, He hit the ground running, jumping into this list of what it looks like to be blessed that we call “The Beatitudes.”

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. NIV

Can I ask you something?  Does this look like a list of things we would consider ourselves blessed in?  No, it does not; in fact, it looks the opposite of what this world would consider blessed.  And if you think about it, the world does have its own list of blessings, and it would look something like this. Blessed are the rich, blessed are the powerful and successful, the attractive and influential.  But Jesus comes along and says, "Let me show you what blessing really looks like.”  You need to understand that to be blessed doesn’t just mean you're happy.  It means that you are deeply secure and satisfied, and full of joy that isn’t dependent on external circumstances.  There is a depth to it beyond the external things that our human eyes are drawn to, and today I want you to see that the Beatitudes show us the Christian life.  They deal with who we are; they deal with our hearts.  Remember, the point of the Sermon on the Mount is that God’s Kingdom is being established in our hearts.  And I’d add to that, remember those studies and statistics we looked at earlier?  All the things that we think make us blessed aren’t leading us to joy, peace, and our best lives. As we seek worldly blessings and probably look really blessed on social media and to the people of this world, we are struggling… that is an understatement; we are dying. And Jesus starts this incredible sermon, exposing that to us and helping us see what it looks like to be truly blessed. It’s internal, and it can never be taken away from us.

Think about the Beatitudes.  Do you see it?  When God’s Kingdom is established in our hearts, the external things…people, circumstances, the challenges we face in life can’t take it away from us.  Which is huge because life is so difficult, painful, and confusing, but this whole concept is why Paul told us that we can have God’s peace in us, guarding our hearts. This peace is beyond human understanding, because we shouldn’t be at peace in such busted-up circumstances, do you see it?

Philippians 4:7 Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. NLT

In The Message Version, the last sentence of this verse reads this way…It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. MSG

So, let’s walk through the Beatitudes. While they could each be a sermon of their own, we will look at each one, what they mean, the challenge we face to accept them, and what life would be like if we did.

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. NIV

So, what does it mean to be poor in spirit, and how is it a blessing?  To be poor in spirit means that you recognize your deep need of God.  You get that you can’t.  God can, and you are doing your best to let Him lead your life.  Jesus' first line of the sermon is that those who understand this are blessed, which is hard to grasp because the world says “blessed are the self-sufficient and strong,” but it’s actually the opposite: blessed are those who know they are not and understand how much they need God.  Here's the same beatitude in the NLT version.

"God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”

God’s Kingdom is the opposite of this world; the weak are strong because they know they need God in their lives. Someone poor in spirit understands how much they need God.

Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” NIV

This is challenging to hear. Two sentences into this sermon, we are told blessed are the poor in spirit and blessed are those who mourn, whew.  This is another massive difference between God’s Kingdom and this world.  The world we live in avoids pain and grief at all costs, while Jesus enters it.  We tend to move so fast and ignore our pain or suppress it as best we can because in our minds, blessed are the happy, and pain is a negative thing, but life isn’t easy, and we experience loss in life. 

“Loss throws us onto God like nothing else.” Pete Scazzero

The reality is we deal with a lot of loss in our lives, and ignoring those feelings doesn’t help.  We hurt over loss, pain, injustice, sickness, brokenness, the way the world should be, the dreams and goals that didn’t happen, the life that unfolds, and the one that hasn’t.  Ignoring, stuffing, or not dealing with our emotions is not living in reality.  Even that quote from Pete Scazzero is challenging, and probably something I wouldn’t have embraced or understood a few decades ago, but it is so true.  When the things we lean on fall away, we discover that God was what we needed and should have been building our lives on all along.  I also want you to see that in this one sentence, what is promised to us is comfort, not explanations, and not quick fixes, but God’s presence through our grief and loss. He meets us there, in it, and we are close to Him, whew, that is a gift, that is a true blessing.

"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. MSG

Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. NIV

In the Bible, being meek means having strength under control, not weakness.  Meekness is humility, gentleness, and self-control; it’s prioritizing God's will over our own. The world says, “be aggressive, be assertive, go take what is yours,” while God says to be content with second, allowing God to be first.

"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are — no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.” MSG

Doesn’t this challenge the mindset of our culture today?  We scroll through highlight reels every day, spending a lot of time looking at what everyone has that we don’t.  It points us to better vacations and houses, better bodies and better lives, but all of that competing and comparing steals our joy. Contentment is freedom; we are truly blessed in it because there is no need to pretend, perform, or keep up with anyone else. I love this line from Paul, and as we read it, try to feel these words…

1 Timothy 6:6 A devout life brings wealth – but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. MSG

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. NIV

You know, we all have wants and desires.  We all hunger and thirst for something; it may be success, approval, comfort, wealth, control, popularity, or just for life to let up on us a bit, but Jesus says that when our deepest desire is for God Himself, we are blessed.  We often talk about the deep need we all have, which God wired into us to draw us to Him.  It’s like a hole in us that we know needs to be filled, but so often we try to fill it with everything and anything but God, but nothing will satisfy it but God.  So, what do you hunger and thirst for?  What do you desire most?  It’s so rare to see someone want God above all else, but this is when we are truly blessed. 

“To hunger and thirst after righteousness is when nothing in the world fascinates us so much as being near God.” Smith Wigglesworth 

Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. NIV

This world tells us to keep score, to protect ourselves at all costs, and to get even when we are wronged, but God’s Kingdom speaks of mercy, grace, and forgiveness.  As we come to know God, we move from people who demand justice to people who show and reflect God’s love and grace.  We also see something that will come up a few times in Jesus’ teaching.  Those who show mercy receive mercy.  We are told that, as forgiven people, we forgive people. We are loved, so we love.  What we do and experience we share, and what we share with others in so many ways is what comes back to us. This will keep coming up throughout the Sermon on the Mount.  We are loved, forgiven, and shown mercy, so we give those blessings to others who need them, and we experience the blessings as much as they do.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  NIV

Remember how I keep saying that God’s kingdom works from the inside out, and our world just seems to work from the outside in?  Well, this is where Jesus really clashed with religion and caused so much friction for Him with the religious leaders of the time.  Everything he is saying challenges what this world thinks and knows.  Let’s read that same verse in the Message version. 

"You're blessed when you get your inside world — your mind and heart — put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.” MSG

The challenge for the religious leaders of that time, and still for us today, is that we can get the rules right, and look good, godly, and impressive on the outside, and feel good about things, but it’s the heart that truly matters to God; it’s all about the inside world being put right. God isn’t impressed by external behaviors. God is after our hearts; it’s internal transformation that matters because when the heart changes, everything else in our lives will follow!  It’s challenging, because it’s so real in there!

Jeremiah 17:10 But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be." MSG

It’s funny: the religious leaders would have known this prophecy, but they didn’t like God coming after their hearts.  But they knew He would!  It's easy to focus on external things and behaviors, but that isn’t real. We are truly blessed when our inner worlds are put right.

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. NIV

Our world thrives on conflict, tension, and division. If you don’t believe me, just turn on the TV or pay attention to what you are scrolling through on your phone.  God is all about peace, love, and reconciliation.  This one is very misunderstood, and it is important to understand that it doesn’t say, "Blessed are the peacekeepers." Jesus wasn’t a peacekeeper. It says blessed are the peacemakers.  A peacemaker doesn’t avoid conflict; they bring God into the challenges, conflicts, and tensions. You see, when God’s Kingdom is in us, we not only grow as people, but we also restore relationships.  Which leads us to the last, and I think most challenging of all the beatitudes, which is saying something because none of them are all that easy.  You ready?

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. NIV

Ok wow.  If I were to say this in one sentence, it would be: you are blessed when following Jesus costs you…and it will cost you, it's just that what it costs us isn’t as important as who we are following!  Listen, no one is signing up for this one, but there is a pattern that we have been touching on throughout these Beatitudes: pain tends to push us deeper into God and His Kingdom.  This is so difficult to accept, but Jesus never promised us a trouble-free life; He promised us a life of meaning.  When our faith in Jesus costs us something, it just has a way of anchoring us to God.

Well, we did it, we have walked through all the Beatitudes, and they are challenging for sure.  They show us what and how we are to live, and it is so opposite to our instincts.  God’s Kingdom is just the opposite of this world in every way.  As we read through these “You are blessed when” statements, do any of us picture or talk about being blessed this way?  Probably not.  But I want you to think about this.  Jesus is inviting us to see blessing differently.  Not as comfort without cost, or success without surrender, or happiness without holiness, but blessing as God with and in us, forming us and changing us from the inside out.  Jesus didn’t say “Blessed are those who have it all together or look very good and Christian.”  We are blessed when we come to Him and allow God’s Kingdom all the way into our lives. 

I started today, asking you what it looks or feels like to be blessed.  It can be challenging to embrace what it truly means to be blessed according to Jesus, but we can also look honestly at our world and see that our pursuit of worldly blessings isn’t leading us to the life we desire.  It’s doing the opposite.  So, the question becomes, can you embrace the kingdom Jesus describes and offers you? 

Let’s close this way, after talking about the world, our culture, and God’s Kingdom…after looking at how we may picture blessings in life compared to what Jesus has to say about them, how would you finish this sentence?  “You are blessed when _____.”  Fill in the blank. Would you fill it out the way Jesus did?  Probably not, and that is the point.  Jesus invites us to live opposite to our instincts, culture, and world.  Which is challenging, but imagine a life that is free from competing and comparing, free from pretending and performing, free from striving and restlessly chasing things of this world…imagine a life filled with a peace that couldn’t be taken away by hardship, pain, or any external circumstance that hits your life.  Imagine a life lived that way.  Can you see and feel it?  You know that way of living…that is a truly blessed life.