Thank you for having me here this morning.
As Chad said, my name is Matt Terrell, and I am the RUF campus minister down the road
about an hour and a half at Samford University.
Some of you may recognize me.
I was actually here a year ago on this very same Sunday for Senior Sunday.
You are in danger of creating a tradition that every Senior Sunday you have to have me here,
so you might want to talk to Chad about that if that's not something you're interested in.
I'm especially excited for you seniors.
You did it.
You graduated high school, or maybe you're about to graduate high school.
Maybe you have a couple more tests to go.
I'm excited for you.
That's a big deal.
College is a big deal.
Phil, you have a lot of exciting things on your horizon.
I'm reminded of Phil Dunphy.
For any of you Modern Family fans out there, Phil Dunphy is the goofy dad, father of three,
in the television show Modern Family.
And when his oldest daughter is getting ready to go off to college,
he creates a book of words to live by, a book of wisdom for her.
His name is Phil, and he calls it Phil's Ossophy.
And it is a bunch of pithy sayings, wise words for her to live by that she can sort of take with her
to give her direction while she is away at college, away from home for the first time.
I'm just going to read you a couple of these.
Phil's Ossophy.
He says, the most amazing things that can happen to a human being will happen to you if you just lower your expectations.
Another thing, another bit of advice from Phil Dunphy.
He says, if you love something, set it free unless it's a tiger.
Words to live by from Phil Dunphy.
And really what he's trying to do, this is a father's attempt to give his daughter direction,
to give her something, a compass, words to live by as she heads off to college.
Jesus is doing something similar here in this passage.
That right here in the words that we're about to read, these are words to live by for the Christian.
This is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.
This is the longest stretch of teaching uninterrupted that we have from Jesus in the Bible.
And where he begins here is he's giving direction.
He's giving a compass.
He's giving us true north, something to know for certain.
I think this is particularly important for us to look at this morning for you seniors
because you have a lot of exciting things in your future.
You have a lot of change in your future.
And what comes with that is a lot of upheaval.
Oftentimes.
A lot of new things, new people, new ideas, new experiences, new places.
And what comes with that is a lot of upheaval and confusion and frustration and disorientation.
And what Jesus is doing here in this passage is he is reorienting us around what is true.
He's giving us a compass.
Words to live by.
So let's look together at Matthew chapter 5 beginning in verse 1.
Verse 1.
On my account.
Rejoice and be glad.
For your reward is great in heaven.
For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
This is God's word and not mine.
So let's pray and ask for his help as we look at it this morning.
Our Father in heaven.
Our Father in heaven, you are good and you are faithful.
We thank you that you do not leave us lost.
And disoriented.
But you give us your word.
You give us your truth.
You give us your son.
That we might know what is real and what is true.
Holy Spirit as we study your word this morning.
Would you come and do what only you can do.
Would you bring us out of darkness and into light.
Would you bring the dead to life in us.
It's in the name of Jesus that we pray.
Amen.
You may have noticed as we read through this passage that the word blessed or blessed shows up a bunch.
In fact, nine times in these 12 verses, Jesus says the word blessed.
It's a key concept here in this text.
And what Jesus means here by the word blessed is basically this.
He means happy.
Happy are those.
Now when Jesus says happy, he doesn't mean happy in a shallow way.
Like just sort of put on a smiling face and everything is going to be okay.
He means happy in a much deeper, a much more lasting way.
When Jesus says the word blessed here, he means a deep assurance of being cared for.
There's a television character by the name of Don Draper.
He's the main character in a TV show called Mad Men that's set in the 1960s.
He is an advertising executive just sort of at the very beginning of the advertising industry in New York in the 1960s.
And he is in the business of happy.
What he does is he studies happy and he learns how to sell happiness to people.
That's his job is to sell happiness.
This is what he says in the very first episode of the very first season.
This is what he says.
He says,
Do you know what happiness is?
Happiness is the smell of a new car.
It's freedom from fear.
It's a billboard on the side of the road that screams with reassurance that whatever you are doing is okay.
You are okay.
That's actually a decent description of what Jesus means by the word blessed here.
That when Jesus is pronouncing blessing, what he's saying is,
You are okay.
I've got you.
I'm caring for you.
It carries with it this idea of validation.
What Jesus is saying is,
You are beloved.
You are cared for.
You can be certain of that.
That's what Jesus means by blessedness here in this passage.
So what we're going to do for the next few minutes is unpack this idea of blessedness from this text.
We're going to look at three things.
If you're an outlined person, this is your outline for the morning.
We're going to look at three different aspects of this blessedness.
The priority of blessedness,
the character of the blessed,
and the source of blessing.
So the priority, the character,
and the source.
So first, the priority of blessing.
It's really easy, particularly because this is a familiar passage to us,
to breeze on by this.
But it's important to note that Jesus begins this teaching by pronouncing blessing.
That as he is starting his teaching ministry here in Matthew chapter 5,
in this long Sermon on the Mount,
that he doesn't begin with something to do.
He begins with blessing.
And he has really challenging words for us
and for the people that he's speaking to later on in the Sermon on the Mount
about how we should conduct ourselves
and what our lives should look like as followers of Jesus.
But he starts with blessing.
Not with what to do,
but with pronouncing blessing.
This is actually the way that God has always worked.
Way back in the Garden of Eden,
before Adam and Eve,
before sin even entered into the world,
God creates Adam and Eve
and before he sends them out and commissions them,
the creation mandate,
be fruitful and multiply,
fill the earth and subdue it.
All these great things.
Before that, it says,
he created them.
And he blessed them.
Before he sent them out to do anything,
it says,
he blessed them.
The same thing with the people of Israel.
God rescues them out of slavery in Egypt.
And he's getting ready to constitute for himself
a new people.
And in Exodus,
he's about to give them the Ten Commandments
and the law
and the instructions for the tabernacle
and all this stuff.
And he's basically saying,
this is what it looks like
to be my people in the world.
Before he does any of that,
what does he say?
In Exodus chapter 20, verse 2,
he says,
I am the Lord your God
who brought you out of slavery in Egypt.
See, before he asks anything of us,
he says,
I bless you.
He pronounces his grace upon his people.
This is the way that God works.
Now, here's why this is important.
Because we often don't see
or experience God in this way.
We often see and experience God
as, you know,
he's disappointed in us
or he's at least waiting
to be disappointed in us
or he's angry with us
or he's at least waiting
for us to screw up
so that he can be angry with us.
And, you know,
he may be okay with you this morning
because you're sitting in church
and that's the right thing to do
on a Sunday morning
is to come to church.
It's just a matter of time
before you mess things up
and you're back in the doghouse
with God.
And we often think
that the real stuff of Christianity
is our obedience,
is the stuff that we do for God.
Now, don't hear what I'm not saying.
I'm not saying that our obedience
is irrelevant.
Again, Jesus has some really
challenging things to say
later on in the Sermon on the Mount
about how we should conduct ourselves.
But he's saying
that's not his priority.
By beginning here,
what he's telling us
is that the real stuff
of Christianity
is not what we do for God,
but what God does for us.
By beginning the Sermon on the Mount here,
Jesus is showing us
that the whole of the Christian life
is bathed in God's grace,
is baptized,
is washed in God's grace,
is lived in light of his blessing.
That Jesus is blessing you,
is blessing me
before we do anything.
Here's why this matters.
This matters because you have a list.
Particularly you seniors,
you're about to graduate,
you have a list.
You have a list of the things
that you want to accomplish
when you're in college.
The ways in which you want to grow.
You know, you have a list of clubs
and organizations
that you're going to be involved in,
of Bible studies
and campus ministries,
of the kinds of grades
that you want to get,
the friendships that you want to build,
the relationships
that you want to cultivate,
the kind of jobs
that you're going to get,
and how you're going to grow spiritually
while you're in college.
You have a list.
You don't have to be a senior
about to head off to college
to have a list.
I have a list.
You have a list this morning
of things that you think,
if I can do these things,
I just need to get my act together
and then God can really bless me
and be happy with me.
If I can defeat this sin
or if I can get this person
to convert to Christianity
or if I can organize this church event
or fix this relationship,
you have a list.
And when Jesus begins
the Sermon on the Mount
by pronouncing blessing,
what He is telling us,
what He is communicating to us
is that before we lift a finger
on that list,
before we even write the list down
or think of the items
on that list,
Jesus is saying,
I love you.
You are blessed.
You are beloved.
Now this matters because
some of you will complete your list.
Some of you will check off
all the items on your list
and then you will wonder,
why do I feel so cold
and empty?
I've done everything
that I think God wants me to do
and I am still
not where I want to be.
And some of you
will fail miserably
at checking off the items
on your list
and you will wonder,
can God love someone like me?
Am I really worthy of blessing?
Is Jesus talking about me
here in this passage?
And what Jesus is saying here
at the beginning
of the Sermon on the Mount
is He's saying,
before you lift a finger
at succeeding at your list
or at failing at your list,
you are blessed.
His priority is not
on your obedience
or your achievements
or your spiritual resume.
His priority
is His blessing over you.
He is determined
to bless.
Secondly,
the character
of the blessed.
We're familiar
with this passage.
It's often referred to
as the Beatitudes
and they fall out
into two major categories.
And what Jesus is doing
is He's actually describing,
okay,
what do the people of God,
those who are blessed
by Jesus,
how do they conduct
themselves in the world?
And it really falls out
into two categories.
And the first category
is that the character
of the blessed
is humble.
They're humble.
Look at what He says
in verse 3.
He said,
blessed are the poor
in spirit.
Now,
poor in spirit,
what does that mean?
Basically,
what Jesus is getting at here
is blessed are
the spiritually bankrupt,
those who know
that they have
no spiritual resources
in and of themselves.
These are people
who don't say,
you know,
well,
at least I'm not as bad
as so-and-so.
At least I can count
on that in myself.
Now,
what Jesus is saying
is the poor in spirit
are people who know
they've got no leg
to stand on.
That all this blessing
that Jesus is pronouncing
comes to me,
comes to you,
in spite of us,
not because of us.
Secondly,
not just poor in spirit,
but blessed are those
who mourn,
verse 4.
These are,
those who mourn,
he doesn't just mean
they grieve
like when somebody dies.
He's tying this idea
to poverty of spirit,
to being poor in spirit.
Somebody,
blessed are those
who mourn.
These are the people
who don't just acknowledge
their spiritual poverty
in an intellectual sense,
but they feel it.
They experience it.
That their sin
grieves them
deeply.
Blessed are those
who mourn.
Verse 5,
blessed are the meek.
We tend to think of meekness
as weakness
or timidness,
but that's not
what Jesus means.
By meekness,
what Jesus means
is confident
and bold humility,
a lack of self-assertion
that these people
who are meek
don't need to parade
their good accomplishments
in front of other people
because they know
that they're taken care of.
It's a bold humility.
Fourth,
in verse 6,
he says,
blessed are those
who hunger
and thirst
for righteousness.
What Jesus is saying
is these are the people
who long for righteousness,
for goodness,
for justice,
to characterize
the world.
and they know
that that starts
with them.
They know
that that doesn't start
with other people
getting their act together.
It starts with them.
It starts with Jesus'
work of righteousness
beginning in their own life.
What Jesus is describing here
in these first few beatitudes
is he's saying,
look,
the community of people
who I am blessing
are a needy people.
We sang about this
just a few minutes ago.
I need thee.
Oh,
I need thee.
Every hour,
I need thee.
It's a humble people.
Jesus is describing
the island of misfit toys.
Do you guys remember
the island of misfit toys
from the old Burl Ives,
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
claymation version?
They come upon this island
and it's all these
rejected toys
because they're not,
they're just something
not quite right
about all the toys
on the island of misfit toys.
So there's a,
there's a Charlie in the box
instead of a Jack in the box.
There's a,
there's a cowboy
who rides an ostrich
instead of a horse.
There's a train
with square wheels.
None of them
quite fit together.
None of them
are quite the way
that they were supposed to be.
It's an,
it's an island of misfits.
And what Jesus is describing here
is the same.
It's a community
of broken,
messed up people
who aren't quite
the way that they are
supposed to be.
but they know it
and they understand it.
It's a needy,
humble community
of people.
What I would encourage you,
especially you seniors,
to do
is to look for that
when you get to your college.
Look for that
in your local church.
Look for that
in your campus ministry.
Don't look for the campus ministry
that's going to take over
the world for Jesus.
Don't look for the campus ministry
that has all the right answers.
Look for the campus ministry.
Look for the church
that knows
we need Jesus.
Badly.
A humble community.
It's not just a humble community.
It's also a loving community.
Jesus continues in verse 7.
He says,
Blessed are the merciful.
Blessed are those
who move towards others in love.
They give their time
and their energy
and their money
and their love
to meet the needs
of other people.
They're merciful.
Verse 8.
He says,
Blessed are the pure in heart.
When Jesus says pure in heart,
it doesn't mean
inner moral purity here.
What he means is that
they have a heart
that is pure,
a heart that is undivided
in its allegiance.
A heart that is undivided
in what it loves.
Those who are pure in heart
are becoming more and more,
learning more and more
to love what Jesus loves
and to hate what Jesus hates.
To be shaped by him.
The pure in heart.
Verse 9.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
This is a great word,
the peacemakers.
It's this great Hebrew word
for shalom,
which means universal,
wholehearted flourishing.
And what Jesus is saying
is that those who are shaped
by my grace,
by my blessing,
move out into the world
to pursue flourishing,
not just for themselves,
but for everyone around them.
Blessed are those
who make peace holistically.
Spiritual peace,
physical peace,
social peace,
relational peace.
Blessed are those
who are peacemakers.
Then in verse 10,
he says,
blessed are the persecuted.
Because what Jesus understands
is that as we,
as Jesus' people,
move out into the world
in love,
we will face opposition.
You will face opposition.
Sometimes when you move out
into the world in love,
it will be beautiful
to the people around you.
Sometimes it will be confusing
and ugly
and offensive to people.
And Jesus is saying,
blessed are those
who are persecuted.
And what he's doing
in all of these beatitudes
is he's painting a picture
of a humble
and a loving community.
An island of misfit toys
that moves out
into the world in love.
That is what it means
to begin to be shaped
by his grace,
by his blessing.
The language that I use
over and over
with our students
that are involved
in RUF at Sanford
is that we are
a beautiful mess.
A beautiful mess.
This church
is a beautiful mess.
RUF at Sanford
is a beautiful mess.
It's beautiful
because Jesus
is blessing it
and loves it
and loves you.
But it's a mess
because I'm part of it.
And it's a mess
because you're part of it.
And there's a tension here
in what Jesus
is describing.
And the tension
is that Jesus
is showing us
his priority
to bless,
to love,
to bestow honor
upon his people.
But he's also
emphasizing
the profound neediness,
the profound unworthiness
of the people
that he's blessing.
He chooses
to bless those people
who seem to be
the least worthy
of being blessed.
He chooses
to bless people
who struggle
to recognize
their own neediness
or who do not
rightly appreciate
his blessing
in their life
or who fail
often
to move
towards other people
in love.
How does Jesus
reconcile
that tension?
Lastly,
let's look at
the source
of blessing.
What is it?
I mean,
clearly,
it's not my worthiness
to be blessed.
It's not your worthiness
to be blessed.
Jesus is not describing
an all-star roster here
when he's going
through the Beatitudes.
He's not describing
people who have it
all together.
So what is it?
How can Jesus
bless
when we are
so unworthy of it?
So far,
we've only looked
at the front half
of each of the Beatitudes
that describes
the character
of the blessed.
Let's look together
at the back half
of what Jesus
is promising
that the blessed
will receive
or what they
will become.
In verse 3,
he says,
they'll receive
the kingdom of heaven.
In verse 4,
he says,
they will be comforted.
In verse 5,
he says,
they will inherit
the earth.
Verse 6 says,
they will be satisfied.
Verse 7,
they will receive mercy.
Verse 8,
they will see God.
Verse 9,
they will be called
sons of God.
These are lofty promises
that Jesus is making.
And he can promise
these things
precisely because
he knows where
he is going.
He can promise
these things
precisely because
of what he
will accomplish
on the cross.
What's happening
on the cross
is that what is
true of us
in our unworthiness
to be blessed
becomes true of Jesus.
And what is true
of him
in all of his worthiness
to receive the blessing
of the Father
becomes true of us.
that's what happens
on the cross
that it is God
securing blessing
for the people
who are unworthy
of it.
Our neediness,
our sinfulness
is put on Jesus
and everything
that he has earned
is given to us.
So Jesus can say,
blessed are those
who mourn.
They will be comforted
because he mourned
so much
that he sweat blood.
And he can say,
you will inherit
the earth
because he lost
everything
on the cross.
And he can say
that you will be filled,
that you will be satisfied
because he was stripped
and he was emptied.
And he can say,
you will receive mercy
because he received
no mercy
on the cross
in your place.
And he can say,
you will see God
because Jesus lost
God's face
on the cross.
He cried out,
my God,
my God.
Why have you forsaken me?
Where are you?
See,
what Jesus is doing
is he's saying,
you receive blessing
because I receive curse.
You receive love.
You receive blessing
because I receive curse.
Jesus is bridging
the gap
between his determination
to bless
and our unworthiness
of that very same blessing.
And why does this matter?
This matters
because whether you are
a senior in high school
or a senior citizen
or somewhere in between,
there is nothing
that can sustain you,
nothing that can give you
direction,
nothing that can give you
hope
or joy
or life,
nothing that can help you
keep your bearings
and keep you sane
in this world
other than
the blessing
and the grace
of Jesus.
So the question is this,
will you trust him
when he says,
blessed are you?
Let's pray.
Father in heaven,
you are the giver
of many good gifts,
many blessings,
some of which
we are aware of,
many of which
we are not.
I pray that you would
help us to
to lay our deadly
doing down,
not because obedience
doesn't matter,
not because what we do
doesn't matter,
because it does,
but that all of our doing
and all of our obedience
would be bathed in,
would be resting in
your blessing.
Your blessing.