Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 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. “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. (Mt 5:1-12, ESV)
(Adapted from a sermon by Dale Meyer)
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
There is a kind of theme for the sermon today. That theme is “Blessed beyond belief.” That’s what Jesus words in the Gospel lesson tell us. “Blessed are the poor in spirit… blessed are those who mourn… blessed are the meek… blessed are those who hunger and thirst…” “Blessed beyond Belief.” These words remind us that we are God’s Saints, who have been blessed by God… beyond belief.
It is very fitting to talk about the blessing of God on a day like today. Look around you at your blessed brothers and sisters in Christ. Right now we are receive the blessing of God in this place… having His word come into our ears by being poured into our ears. Just next week we’ll gather again and we’ll be blessed with more of the same as we open our mouths as God pours forgiveness into our mouths through the Lord’s Supper. Over and over again in this place God pours His forgiveness over the head of a person with the gift of the Holy Spirit connected to God’s name and water. What wonderful blessings these things are… you might say blessings… beyond belief. And how about the harvest, maybe it’s not the best harvest you’ve ever collected but it’s probably not the worst either. Bins every where are full and the grain is piled up on the ground waiting for sale. Today we’ll also remember the blessing of God on those who have died this year. This list isn’t that long, 3 names, Ed Wenz, Clarence Malwitz and Lyle Schneider. We’ll read their names and thank God that he blessed them in life, but even more so that they came to a blessed death, through faith in Jesus. That’s the kind of stuff Jesus is talking about in these words for today.
But for the moment I’d like us to forget about being blessed, both the spiritual and the physical blessings that I’ve been talking about. I’d like us to forget about that list of names we’re going to read. And even forget about the hope you and I share in Christ that we will be with Jesus when we die. Right now I’d like to look at and think about that “beyond belief” part of the theme. I’d like to ask this question: “Do you and I sometimes act in ways that put the message of Jesus, ‘beyond belief’?”
There was an athlete whose name you would know, who talked about his step father, a man who claimed to be a Christian. This man spoke often of Jesus and faith. But he had a horrible temper, and would beat stepson for reasons that weren’t worth a beating, like being messy.
One time when the boy’s mother was in the hospital for surgery, he had to leave for a swim meet, and his father accompanied him. As they waited at the airport the man began to write notes on a note pad, but before he would finish he would crush them up and through them away. When he wasn’t watching the boy retrieved one of them from the trash, and read it later when he was alone. The notes were written to another woman. His stepfather was writing notes to another woman while his mother was in the hospital. (Adapted from Lance Armstrong. It’s Not About the Bike). It wasn’t a very healthy impression of Christianity this man gave to his stepson, is it?
Now many of you could say that you haven’t sinned in a big way like that. But you could ask yourself this: Does my conduct ever put the blessings of God beyond the belief of others? Simple things like swearing, gossip, cheating, little white lies, watching pornography, speaking poorly of other people, procrastinating, etc… Jesus says, “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! (Mt 18:7, ESV) Of course, there is forgiveness for all of these sins, that’s the greatest blessing of God through faith in Jesus, but these sins still have consequences. And sometimes one of those consequences is that when other people see us do these things it makes the blessings of God for our life in Christ unbelievable.
Every year we read this same text for “All Saint’s” day. It’s is very appropriate to do that because we remember the blessings God gives to all his saints, living and dead. But it is very easy to listen to these words of Jesus and hear them as wonderful, and they truly are wonderful words of Jesus. But when we hear them only in that way, I think we may be hearing them in a different way then Jesus intends them to be heard. We hear them as Gospel, but really to hear them as the really rich Gospel they are we should look at them in the way they are so often looked at, as law. When we hear the beautiful words “Blessed are the meek,” we are condemned for all the times we haven’t turned the other cheek. We are convicted of every time we act proud and every time we don’t even want to be meek. When we hear “Blessed are the merciful” we are reminded of the times we refuse to forgive those who sin against us. We are reminded of the times we grudgingly give to those who are in need because of how it will look for us if we don’t. “Blessed are the peacemakers” convicts us of the times we fly off the handle on minor issues, and times we carry issues to our grave instead of resolving them. And what about “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness?” We are reminded of the times we remained silent when other people spoke against the things God clearly speaks of in his word. Like failing to speak for the protection of unborn babies, or speak up supporting God’s will for marriage. Allowing our brothers and sisters even in our own congregation to go on living in sin, not being married, and saying nothing about it. I think you get the point. We can easily read these words of Jesus in a way that shows us our sin and shows it to us very clearly. That’s what the law does, it accuses us before God. God couldn’t be more clear on the subject: For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” (Ga 3:10, ESV) If you are thinking to yourself, it’s about time pastor got after them, you need to look at your own heart and realize that you are guilty of all of these sins.
When the law does its work we stand before God, knowing that we fit very well the first of the Beatitudes of Jesus, “poor in spirit.”
Well, we can easily think of the beatitudes a law. The truth is there’s only one person who ever fit the beatitudes perfectly. There’s only one person who they really truly describe well. It’s Jesus. When the word pronounce blessing they pronounce “Blessed is He!” I’m going to read them again and as I do I want you to think of Jesus.
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 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. “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. (Mt 5:1-12, ESV)
Blessed is He! Did you hear how they fit Jesus perfectly? Did you see how he is the only one who really is what the Beatitudes say?
We say it all the time “Jesus died on the cross for my sins.” We understand that Jesus was punished in our place. But there is another reason why Jesus is our Savior. It’s not just that he died in our place, but that he also lived in our place. That law that convicts us so easily didn’t convict Jesus, he lived it perfectly his whole life, as a baby in diapers, a teenager hanging out with his friends, a young man helping his father, and as a mature man traveling about. Not only did he never break any of them but always did what they asked him to do. He kept God the Father’s will for a human life, and he kept it perfectly. That’s not like you and me at all. We want to keep God’s laws, but when the pressure is on we melt. We want to speak up against evil, but we zip our lips when we think about what people will say to us, and about us. But, not Jesus, he did it all perfectly. Blessed is He!
And yes, Jesus, God’s Blessed one, endured the pain of punishment. We don’t live a Blessed life as God would have us do, but Jesus is punished instead of us. He even suffered the punishment we deserve for making the Blessed Christian life look beyond belief for people around us. Jesus, Blessed is He! He has taken our sin and punishment. The law places a curse on us but Jesus takes that curse away from us. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— (Ga 3:13, ESV)
Now the question for us is this: Can we, sinners that we are, really be blessed? The great Christian writer CS Lewis wrote, speaking for Jesus:
“Give me all. I don’t want so much of your money and so much of your work—I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut of a branch here and a branch there; I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth or crown it, or stop it but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self… I will give you a new self instead. In fact I will give you myself; my own will shall become yours.” (CS Lewis, Beyond personality)Well, that is beyond belief. It is totally beyond our ability to submit to God, completely enough that he can move in, take over and bring us that blessedness. Well, it would be anyway except for one thing. God promises that it is so. St. Paul reminds us that no one can say “Jesus is Lord” unless the Holy Spirit is working in him (1 Cor 12:3). God assures us that if not for the work of the Holy Spirit the blessed life of Jesus and his forgiveness would be beyond belief and beyond our reach. That is what Baptism is all about: God moving in to our lives in the person of the Holy Spirit, killing that ‘natural self’ with a drowning. God makes his home in its place. “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal 2:20)
Do you remember memorizing these words?
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.It’s Martin Luther’s explanation for the 3rd article of the Apostle’s Creed. The word Sanctified is another way of saying that we been given the blessedness of Jesus, and forgiveness, life and salvation that he won for us by his death and perfect life.Luther continues:
In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.On the last day… that’s what we really look forward to. That is the day when the blessing that we receive will be totally beyond belief. We won’t have to live by faith anymore on that day we’ll live by sight. (2 cor 5:7) We’ll stand face to fact with God himself, without fear of punishment, with our sins forgotten and completely forgiven. We’ll stand with the other saints of God forever… saints like Ed, Clarence, and Lyle. We’ll even stand there with some of those who we’ve offended. How many will be there? How many who first rejected the truth about Jesus but were change by the Holy Spirit? According to the author of Revelation (7:9) “A great multitude that no one could count.” That’s something to shout about. “Blessed be our Savior, Jesus Christ.!” Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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