Latest / HBCWestminster / 3.8.23 Matthew 5:2-16 Pastor Danny Gardner

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3.8.23 Matthew 5:2-16 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Matthew chapter five, verses two to 16. And if you're able to stand in honor of God's word, as I read it, I would, I would ask you to do that now beginning in verse two. And he opened his mouth and taught them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
• 0:29
  Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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  Would you pray with me? Lord God of heaven, be blessed in the preaching of your word.
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  Make me your willing and able servant and give us the attention and devotion that is required to build our lives upon the rock. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you, church. Are you happy? What would it take to make you happy? What is it, would you say, that's keeping you from being happy? Or how would you even define happiness?
• 1:41
  We often talk about a five-year plan. Somebody might ask you, where do you see yourself in five years? Do you have a five-year plan? You know what's funny about those five-year plans? Nobody ever plans to be miserable. I have never heard of anybody saying, I'm going to do whatever it takes. I'm going to make whatever changes necessary in my life to ensure that I am miserable in five years. In fact, your answer to where you would like to be in five years is probably your answer to what I believe will make me happy.
• 2:10
  Have you ever thought that something would make you happy only to find out that it wouldn't? I've been in full-time pastoral ministry for 20 plus years at this point. I have done marriage counseling every year that I've been in pastoral ministry. I have helped people just to look at the truth of God's word as it relates to our marriages and work on reconciliation and restoration for people who might have marriage problems or whose marriages are broken and dysfunctional.
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  It is funny, you know, most times people come with humility. They want their marriages to work. And as they submit to God's word, indeed, the Lord blesses those decisions. And those marriages come out healthy, restored. But every now and again, people are so in love with their sin that they refuse to repent, refuse to do it God's way. And what's interesting is their response, whether a husband or a wife, their response is typically the same. They will say the phrase,
• 3:06
  Well, I just believe Jesus wants me to be happy. And they will say that phrase in defense of or in order to justify some sinful behavior. I just believe Jesus wants me to be happy. And yet it is this sinful behavior they think that will make them happy. Now, the truth is that Jesus does indeed want us to be happy, depending on how we define happiness.
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  It was J.C. Ryle who worded it this way 150 years ago. He said, Christianity is eminently a practical religion. Sound doctrine is its root and foundation. That is true. But holy living should always be its fruit. And if we would know what holy living is, then we would be the ones that Jesus calls blessed.
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  In other words, he says the holiest people are the ones who are truly blessed. And we often think of happiness and holiness as opposites, but that's not true. The holiest people, according to Jesus, are the happiest people. Let me say that again. The holiest people, according to Jesus, are the happiest people. We began our study of the Sermon on the Mount at the sermon's end last Wednesday. Christ described two types of people.
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  The wise man who applied the words of Christ and so built his life on the rock. And the foolish man who did not apply Christ's words and whose life went splat. We pick up this evening in verse 2 with the Beatitudes and what it means to be supremely blessed. That is, after all, what the word Beatitude or in the Latin Beatus means. Supremely blessed. Beyond happy. We might say ecstatic.
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  ecstatic, supremely blessed. As I was speaking to Pastor Sam this week, he reminded me of a linguist that we both enjoy, a linguist and an author, a language specialist who said that this word Beatus could also be translated lucky, almost like enviable. The lucky person is the one who is poor in spirit or the one who mourns. How lucky you are to mourn.
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  Christ in the Beatitudes paints an eight-part description, kind of a composite sketch of the man that is supremely blessed. And rather than including what would be on most people's lists, money, jobs, houses, spouses, cars, achievements. Perhaps you can even hear Fiddler on the Roof as Perchick is speaking to Tevye. Perchick says, money is the world's curse.
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  And Tevye responding with, well, then may the Lord smite me with it and may I never recover. Jesus, rather than including those types of things, money and jobs and houses, Jesus's list instead includes poverty, purity, and peace. Many of the things we would choose would make us happy for a year. The things that Christ would choose for us.
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  would make us happy for eternity. And you may say, well, the things like what? What is Jesus's list? Here it is. Number one, the supremely blessed person is poor in spirit. Verse three says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In contrast to the common view, which states blessed are the rich for theirs is the kingdom of the world. The poor in spirit are the humble, lowly minded and self-abased.
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  They are those who think not too highly of themselves, Romans 12, 3. Those who are not wise in their own eyes, Proverbs 3, 7. That is to say, they regard themselves with accuracy. It's not that they think themselves lower than they actually are. They just don't think of themselves higher than they actually are. They regard themselves.
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  accurately. Perhaps you recall the church of Laodicea in Revelation chapter three. This would be the church that Jesus says, I'm going to spit you out of my mouth, right? That's kind of the famous phrase there from Laodicea. But in Revelation chapter three in verse 17, Jesus confronting this church says, for you say, I'm rich, I've prospered. I need nothing in their own minds. I mean, they had everything together. We've got more than we need. We are living a
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  abundantly, lavishly, opulently. And then he says, you don't even realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. J.C. Ryle words it this way, humility is the very first letter of the alphabet of Christianity. If there was an alphabet for our faith, the letter A would be humility. And then he continues, we must begin low if we would build
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  high. We must empty our hearts of self that Christ may fill us up. Be poor in spirit. But notice second, the supremely blessed person mourns. Verse four says, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Jesus meant those who sorrow over sin and grieve over their own shortcomings, whose hearts
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  actually break over their own spiritual failures, whose consideration of their own sin troubles them. So let me ask you, church, does your heart break over your sin or has it become such a frequent pattern in your life? Have you just become calloused to it? Jesus says, blessed are you every time your heart breaks. Blessed are those who mourn. Third, the supremely blessed
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  person is meek. Notice verse five, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Meek people are humble. They're patient. They're content. They're willing to put up with little honor. They're not seeking credit or glory or fame. They bear injuries without resentment and with no expectation of retaliation. They defend others.
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  while by no means defending themselves. And this says one day they shall reign on the earth. They do not come to their own defense. Would you describe yourselves, friends, as humble, patient, content? How often do you defend the cause of others rather than compared to how quickly do I come to my own defense?
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  1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 21 says, to this you have been called. Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin. Neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he didn't threaten. And here's the key, but continued, it says, entrusting himself to him who judges justly, not even Jesus Christ. Our example came to his own defense. And yet he could have.
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  He committed no sin, no wrong at all, and yet had the world's sin put on him. He committed no treason at all and yet was crucified as a treasonous criminal. And even in that situation did not come to his own defense. He didn't threaten. He didn't revile. This just said he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. That is the perfect example of what it means to be meek.
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  Notice fourth, the supremely blessed person is hungry and thirsty. And you may say, well, that's not a big deal. Everybody gets hungry and thirsty. But this says the most happy people on earth are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Look at verse six. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Above all, we should desire to be like the Lord. That should be the greatest hunger and thirst of our lives.
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  We don't need to long to become rich or famous. We don't long for celebrity or influence. When we dream, we should not dream about our own greatness, but rather dream about spreading the fame of another and to become like him.
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  Psalm 17 and verse 15 says, as for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness when I awake. Right. You can imagine he's using this idea of a dream. I've been asleep and have been dreaming. And when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. I've been dreaming about you, Lord, so that when I wake, I wake up with you on my mind. And so let me ask you, beloved friends, church, what do you dream about? When your mind drifts.
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  Where does it go? Do you ever dream about righteousness, about becoming like the Lord? Hunger and thirst for righteousness. Fifth, the supremely blessed person is merciful. Verse seven says, blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. The merciful person is filled with compassion toward others. They are those who cannot simply pass by and do nothing. They are those who echo Solomon's sentiment that knowledge,
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  is a burden. Those who are merciful both know and then follow through. They do something about it. They don't know the phrase, that's not my problem. What has the Lord revealed to you about the needs of others? Has he made their needs known to you? And then ask yourself this question, and it's kind of a funny one. It casts a new light on that question. What has he revealed to you about others? And then,
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  why do you think he's chosen you to reveal those needs too? Of all of the people, the Lord could have revealed those needs of others too. Why do you think he's chosen you to reveal them too? Blessed, it says, are those who show mercy. Sixth, then verse eight, the supremely blessed person is pure in heart. Verse eight says, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
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  We know that many are good at being pure in outward appearance, but then they fail miserably at being pure in heart. The pure in heart find no satisfaction in external religion. We know that there are many who pay lip service to God. They may impress a great many people, but then they will find that their faith runs short on judgment day.
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  Jesus confronted those in Matthew 15 and verse 8. Those people who honor me with their lips, he says, but then their hearts are far from me. And then he said, in vain do they worship me. In other words, they are in the middle of a worship service. While they are singing praises to God, they're looking at their cell phones, right? Their minds are somewhere else. And so their lips are reciting the right words. And then he says, but it is vain worship.
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  Because although they honor me with their lips, their hearts are far from me. Their hearts are somewhere else. How deeply, how genuinely does your affection for Christ penetrate? Is your love for the Lord and by extension your love for others fake?
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  1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 22 says, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. That word sincere means without hypocrisy. I mean, it is literally the word hypocritical in the Greek. Without hypocrisy. We know that sometimes the smile is fake, right?
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  We'll use that phrase, fake it till you make it. We're fake about our love for others. The smile is fake. How tragic would be if the smile toward the Lord is also fake. Blessed is the person who is pure in heart. Seventh, the supremely blessed person is a peacemaker. Verse nine says, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. The peacemaker is the one willing to overlook an offense.
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  The peacemaker is the one who exerts all their effort to promote unity. The one who isn't looking for a chance to throw their weight around. They're more concerned with peace than even their own rights, even their own justice.
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  They have no interest in retribution. They have no interest in retaliation. They are only too willing to fall on their own sword, even to take the blame for something that might not even be their fault in order to promote peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. Eighth, finally, the supremely blessed person will be
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  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You may think, well, what in the world? Blessed? Supremely? Happy? Ecstatic? Lucky? Lucky? Enviable? You're so lucky that you're persecuted? If we're honest, church, maybe some of these other ones would have made our list. What do you think would make you happy? Well, I really want to be a compassionate, merciful person. I want to be like the Lord in righteousness. I believe that would make me happy.
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  If we're honest, none of us would have included persecution. I just really think that being persecuted would make me happy. And yet that's exactly what Jesus says. Verse 11, blessed are you when others revile you. What a horrible word. And persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. We know that this doesn't include all suffering.
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  Universal suffering is a human trait, not specific to Christians. Those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, however, suffer because they endeavor to live as true Christians. They want to follow the pattern, the example, the footsteps of their savior. And don't forget, beloved friends, that we serve a crucified Lord. If they hated him.
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  What makes us think that they won't hate us also? How does your spiritual portrait compare to this composite sketch of the happy man? As you're looking at these eight traits of supreme blessedness, how does your spiritual portrait compare? And notice Jesus continues in verse 13, the supremely blessed person will have an
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  impact upon those who encounter him. He or she will not only be supremely blessed, but he goes on to say, you will, if you are that happy person, you will also become salt and light. You will be supremely blessed, but also supremely briny.
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  It's just a word that means salty, right? But I needed to start with a B. You will also be supremely bright and buried within these few verses. We have revealed the plan of God to redeem mankind. And here's what the Lord does. He says, I'm going to create for myself a supremely happy people, and then I'm going to sprinkle them all over the earth so that mankind will see these supremely happy people.
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  And be drawn to them and then drawn to the Lord. And look at the very end of our text in verse 16 in the same way. This is exactly what he says.
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  In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. His goal is that he would sprinkle supremely blessed people all over, enviable people, lucky people, so that they would look at us and say, you're so lucky that you get to be poor in spirit, that you get to mourn and meek and hunger and thirst for righteousness and merciful and pure in heart. You're so lucky. How do I get that?
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  for myself. We know that the world's foundation is faulty. The higher the world builds, because their foundation is faulty, the higher they build, the less secure they actually become. And although technology advances, the heart of man remains deceitfully wicked. Our increase of knowledge has not increased our peace of mind.
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  Our gains in philosophy have in no way given new purpose and meaning to our lives. The modern man has simply invented more ways to corrupt and destroy himself. The author Anne Rand in her famous work, Atlas Shrug, has said the purpose of philosophy is not to help men find the meaning of life, but to prove to them that there isn't any. What a despairing, despairing thought that is.
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  She just says there is no point to life. Philosophy has proven that life is without meaning and purpose. And Jesus would say that is not true. I know Jesus would say that the world is sick, both psychologically and spiritually, but there is a solution.
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  I've got, Jesus would say, a solution to fix what is broken in the world. And the answer is found in verses 13 and 14. Notice, what are the very first words of verses 13 and 14? The word you. You. You are the answer, Jesus is saying. You are. We are. These supremely blessed people are the answer to the world's...
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  problem. And the you in each of these verses is emphatic. That means that there is exclusivity in the statements. It is as if Christ is saying, you are the only salt and light. The world should not expect it from anywhere else. The world can't get it anywhere else. It's not education or parachurch organizations or nonprofits or non-government organizations, not politics.
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  If we as believers are not salt and light, then there is no one else, Jesus says. Notice the next word, the word are. Are, you are salt and light. This stresses being rather than doing. Jesus doesn't give an option. Christians are salt and light. Believers have not been left with a choice about whether they will participate in the Christ kingdom program. Being rather than doing.
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  puts emphasis on character rather than performance. He says, be salt and light. Don't just act like salt and light. You are, verse 13 says, the salt of the earth. The life influence of the believer should possess salt-like qualities. It should be noted, perhaps you've heard this before, that salt has four primary characteristics.
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  Salt does four things. First, salt is indispensable to produce life. Something like 80% of our bodies is made up of water. We've heard that before. 80% of the human body is made up of water. Do you ever wonder what keeps that water in our bodies? Why doesn't it just flow right out of us? It's kind of a gross idea, but why doesn't it just come out all over the place? The answer, salt.
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  Salt in our bodies keeps the water in our bodies. If there were no salt at all in our bodies, we could not survive. And salt is sprinkled everywhere on earth. It's in rocks, in soil and water and blood in order to sustain life. And so also God has sprinkled spiritual salt, that's us believers, all over the world to produce spiritual life. Second, salt preserves.
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  The word of God sanctifies and preserves the hearer. In the same way that salt militates against physical corruption, so also spiritual salt preserves against moral corruption. It has a preserving influence. Third, salt makes food savory to the taste. Salty food makes us desire more. With salt, you really can't eat just one. Fourth, salt bites and it burns.
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  Salt in our bodies produces life. We know that, but salt in a wound will sting. The believer's message may not always have a welcoming audience. If the word of God is to have its desired preserving effect, arresting corruption, preserving, it must be preached with accuracy and with clarity. And the minister of God's word who preaches with accuracy must not expect acceptance, applause.
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  or popularity all the time. But we must not water down the message because after all, Christ called us salt and not sugar. Again, J.C. Ryle has said, the gospel we proclaim has a greater chance of being spit out than swallowed. It has a greater chance of bringing water to the eyes than laughter to the lips. Verse 14 says, we are light, the light of the world. And a city on a hill cannot be hidden.
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  Spiritually, we know the world is in darkness. When John the Baptist began preaching, he came bearing witness to the light. Jesus was that light. John 8, verse 12, Jesus said, I am the light of the world. And ministers of the word of God carry with them the lamp of the gospel. Our task in preaching is to throw open the blinds and clean the windows so that the light of Christ may enter our hearts.
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  That we can open our eyes, Acts 26 says, that we may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God and may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ. You may ask, well, okay, that is the plan of God for the redemption of man. How can that plan go wrong? Verse 13 says, well, the salt can lose its saltiness. Verse 14 says, or.
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  The people who are the light can try hiding that light by covering it with a basket, right? By keeping it hidden and under wraps. There is a sense in which salt can't lose its saltiness. I mean, sodium chloride is sodium chloride, but salt can become so contaminated that it not only loses its flavor, but actually becomes repulsive to the taste. And so also,
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  The salt of the earth, believers, must not become contaminated with sin. We can create a problem. We can't hijack the plan of redemption if we, the light of God, just keep our heads down, decide to hide out, decide to keep our lamps hidden away, to keep our mouths shut so that we won't make any waves.
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  In 2014, I was the chaplain of the Lancaster Jet Hawks, a minor league affiliate with the Houston Astros. And there were a couple of believers on that team. My job was to provide chapel services like church services as they're away from their homes. Both of the home teams, the visiting team, and then the umpire traveling team. There were a couple of believers on that team. And a couple of them were really strong believers of a group of 35 or so young men. There were a couple who really knew the Lord and were serious about the faith. And one of them, a pitcher at the time, was...
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  just a young man who was devout. I mean, he loved the Lord. He walked in righteousness and was really just outgoing and outspoken about his faith. He did it with love and gentleness, respect of others, but he was just unflinching. And the other young men on that team respected him, but they got kind of tired of hearing it at times and mocked him a little bit. And he was poked fun of, both of these young men that I discipled, but especially this one.
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  after 2014, when I moved here to Colorado, actually in 2015, I stopped to be in the chaplain there. We kind of lost track of each other. And for the last 10 years or so, he and I, we would kind of keep track at a distance, but we hadn't talked in several years until relatively recently. I saw him again and he is still pitching. He's done very well at this point. The Lord has shown him favor. He's still pitching. He pitches for a major league team.
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  But I saw him again. We reconnected after all of those years when he showed up here at Highland this last Christmas. On Christmas Eve, he showed up here with his family. He happened to be in town celebrating Christmas. He reached out to my son, Pearson, on some app, some social media app, found us and said, hey, is your dad still the pastor of a church? Yeah. Tell me where you're at. I'm in Denver. I would love to come and see you. He showed up on Christmas Eve. I got to see him, gave him a big hug. Hadn't seen him in years. It was such a
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  neat reunion. And I just asked him this one question. I said, Hey brother, are you still preaching? And he didn't even respond. His brother who was with him, I said, his family was in town. His brother who was with him interrupted and said, he preaches all the time. You know, it's kind of this mildly annoyed poking fun at his brother. They preaches all the time. He won't shut up about Jesus and how blessed I was to hear that.
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  And friends, we are the salt and the light of the world. Every one of us, there is no other salt or light. God has given us the formula for supreme happiness. If we will choose it, he wants to sprinkle supremely blessed people all over the place who can bear witness to the solution he offers to the world's problem. And we can either choose to be briny and bright, or we can contaminate our saltiness and hide our light. And God, I pray.
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  That we would choose what would make us supremely happy. God, that we would follow your formula for the extreme, ecstatic blessedness that you offer. And that you would sprinkle us all over the world to be the salt and light that you desire. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.