How We Can Receive God’s Blessings: The Many Blessings of the Beatitudes Matthew 5:7 “Blessed (or made happy) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Many have the gift of mercy which is one of the gifts of the Spirit (Rom 12:8) but this is more than just a gift…it is an attitude toward others. The mature mercy-giver is kind and gentle. Merciful people are drawn to other sensitive people. Believers who express mercy are the backbone of the prayer power in the Church. They feel they must pray. To them, prayer is an expression of their hearts to God and nothing else they can do releases these emotions and captures God’s heart better than prayer. They will receive mercy…both in the future but also today by God’s being merciful to them when they make mistakes or sin. Matthew 5:8 “Blessed (they’re made happy who) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The pure in heart is mentioned in Psalm 73 and refers to those who recognize that God alone is their hope. Psalm 24:3-5 says “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior.” Only the pure in heart are able to see God (2 Cor 5:21). It is not that the pure in heart might or may see God but they will see God and there is no doubt about it. Matthew 5:9 “Blessed (they’re made happy who) are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Peacemakers are not who you think they are. They are those who stop gossip in its tracks. They bring peace when conflict is almost certain to occur. They “head off” conflict before it comes. They also see opportunities to mediate a peace between offended parties. They resolve conflicts at church, work, in families, in the parking lot, in the stores, everywhere they go. God calls the peacemakers, the sons and daughters of God. They are sons and daughters of their father because there is evidence that they are peacemakers. Matthew 5:10 ”Blessed (they’re made happy who) are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Have you ever been insulted because you are a Christian? Good! Why? Because “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Pet 4:14). I want that! But James goes on, “if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name” (1 Pet 4:16). Far too many believers are surprised when they are persecuted and disheartened but we are blessed when we are persecuted for Jesus’ sake and if you’ve never, ever been persecuted for your beliefs, then you may want to ask yourself if you’re an underground Christian or a Christian at all. Matthew 5:11 “Blessed (they’re made happy who) are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” Jesus guaranteed that “‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours” (John 15:20). To be reviled is to be spoken evil of, treated as contemptible, to be despised, to be hated. About every evil thing will be said about you because you are associated with Christ. That’s good! It is for His sake and He is actually glorified by this, as strange as that sounds. Matthew 5:12 “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad (literally, leap for joy and jump), for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” They killed the prophets, they killed Jesus, and so what makes us think they will bring us flowers and candy? You are in excellent company my friends when you are treated the way those in the Bible have been treated. That is strong evidence that you are professing Him before others and at least you know that you’re on the right side…His! Conclusion The Beatitudes are a “be-attitude” in which we strive to have the mind of Christ. Jesus fulfilled and lived out these verses perfectly. That doesn’t mean that we cannot also be blessed when we have this mind of Christ, or this attitude of God. When we are a blessing to others we receive the blessing of God. When we are despised we are blessed. When we are reviled God makes up for it with a special blessing. And when we are persecuted and hated for Jesus’ sake, we have the Spirit of the glory of God resting upon us. I want that. If you are not saved, then you can never be blessed by God and in fact you are currently under a curse. If you step out of this life without Christ as your Savior, you are cursed for all eternity by being separated from God with no second chance to ever be saved. Today, in you will hear God’s voice, you can be saved (2 Cor 6:2). Tomorrow may be too late.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 19:07:11 +0000
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