← Stay True with Madison Prewett Troutt
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Matthew 5. 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is the introduction to the Beatitudes that we are going to be reading today in Matthew 5, verses 3 through 10. We're going to go line by line through each of these verses. But to give you some context, Matthew is one of the four Gospels. And the Gospels are the account of Jesus's life, what he did, who he was. And that is how we can read about the life of Jesus. And so if you don't understand the Gospels, if you've never read through the Gospels, I would highly encourage you to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And the Gospel is the good news. And so this is all about the life of Jesus, who Jesus was, what Jesus did, and why it matters for you and me today. These Beatitudes are so countercultural. And you will see that as we read each one, you're like, ooh, that is different than my natural sinful nature, or, ooh, that is different than the messaging and the actions of the world today. And I love the Beatitudes so much and that they're called the be attitudes and not the do attitudes. We live in a time and in a culture where everyone focuses on what we produce and on what we do. When Jesus makes it so clear that it's all about the heart and who we are, it always stems from who we are, and then from there, that is how we go and we do. And so we're gonna start in verse three, which says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, poor in spirit. When I heard that, at first I was like, okay, so Jesus, the Lord just wants me to be poor. That's not what it's saying. It is speaking to having a posture of, I can do nothing apart from him. I am so dependent upon God. There is no righteousness in me. There is no strength or sufficiency in me. I have nothing apart from him. And we have to start with that posture because we cannot accept Jesus as Savior, we cannot accept Jesus as Lord until we have a posture of, I know I need saving, until we have an understanding that we need to be saved. And so blessed are the poor in spirit is the person who knows I need to be saved because I am messy on my own, and I am nothing apart from him. This is a deep desperation and dependence upon the Lord and the promises, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 4 says, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Again, if you're not researching this or studying this or doing a deep dive. You will read this and be like, so the Lord just wants me to cry all the time. That's not what he's saying. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. You can interpret that as this word. Mourn is actually the most intense description of mourning in Scripture. And it's as if you're talking about mourning the dead. And it's having this understanding that I mourn over what breaks God's heart. I mourn and I have a deep hurt over what keeps me separated from God, over the sin that I commit or that other people commit that would separate them from God. This is a posture of taking sin seriously. You don't overlook sin, you don't dismiss sin, sin. You don't treat sin with casualty. You have a deep mourning in your spirit, a deep grieving in your spirit. It talks about this actually in second Corinthians 7:10, that godly sorrow leads to repentance, that leads to salvation, but worldly sorrow leads to death. And you'll know that, that anytime you sin against God and you feel that worldly sorrow, it'll bring shame, it'll bring separation from God. But anytime you sin against God and you feel that conviction from the Holy Spirit, it'll actually bring you closer to God. You'll hit your knees and you'll repent and you'll mo over the sin you committed against God. And it says, they will be comforted. The Holy Spirit is our comforter. Verse 5. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. I love this word meek because for the longest time I thought that just meant I was supposed to be passive or I had no voice. But actually what meek means is strength under control. So I want you to think of a stallion that is so strong and has so much power, but yet it has control, yet it's running its race well. And that's what meekness is. You have strength, but it's laced in self discipline and self control. And the first two beatitudes are focusing on inward. And this third one deals with how it relates to other people. Do you have a meekness towards others? Do you show strength under control with other people? You know, we can only be meek, controlling our desire for our rights and privileges because we are confident that our God watches us and he will protect us and he goes before us. And the promise is we will inherit the earth. Verse 6 says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. This is one of my favorite verses in the Beatitudes, because we know what it's like when we get hungry. I mean, I am the definition of the Snickers commercial when I get hungry. I am not me when I'm hungry. And all throughout Scripture and throughout the Gospels. In the Gospel of John, Jesus even refers to himself as the bread of life. In John chapter 6. He also refers to himself in John chapter 4 as the living water. And so what does it look like to hunger and thirst for righteousness? It looks like to run to Jesus for everything, for comfort, for security, for satisfaction, for joy, for peace, for love, and to be fully filled in him, not looking to other things, not looking to other people to fill what only God can. I also love that he is our daily bread. That's in the Lord's Prayer. Lord, you are my daily bread. And just remind, reminding yourself, he alone be is where true joy, peace and freedom is found. And we think about our body is hungry to be filled with food. But I want you to think about your soul and your spirit is hungry even more to be satisfied and filled. And so what are you running to? What are you looking to to find satisfaction and filling? Because he is the only one that can keep our spirit and our soul fully alive. And then verse 7 says, Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. A merciful person is someone who knows they have been forg, they have been redeemed, that they have received mercy from God. Therefore they have a lot of mercy to give other people. Something that has really helped me in this is knowing too much is given, much more is required. I have been freely forgiven. Therefore I am called to be forgiving to other people. I have received God's mercy and I didn't deserve it. Therefore I am called to give mercy to other people even when they don't deserve it. And something practically that's really helped me is memorizing Scripture. I remember I was memorizing James 1, and it talks about being slow to anger and slow to speak and quick to listen. And that's just one way I've been trying to exercise. What does it look like to be merciful to other people? Is just being clothed in this humility, clothed in this compassion, clothed in just this, like, I don't know, just you're not wanting to give them what they deserve or be the center of attention, but having this understanding of. I'm gonna respond and not react. Verse 8 says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. I love this verse so much. This has been one of my most Quoted verses that I've. That I've ever spoken. Because there's something that Jesus is trying to address here. He says, blessed are the pure in heart, not the pure in body. He's saying, hey, it's not just about what you look like to other people. It's about what's on the inside. It talks about in the Old Testament, the Lord says, no, no, I don't see as man sees. I look at the heart. The Lord cares about our heart. That means we can be doing all of the right things, all of. All of a bunch of God things, a bunch of good things. And if it's not done with the right heart posture, then it's done in vain. And so we have to have a pure heart. I love that Jesus is addressing this because he's speaking to a crowd of people who have seen it exercised by a bunch of Pharisees and teachers of scripture that they put so much emphasis on what we do outwardly and on what other. See, and they did it all for the praise of people. And yet their heart was wicked, yet their heart was far from God. And my hope and prayer is that our heart is a undivided devotion to the Lord, that we are doing everything with pure motive and to please God, not to please people, not to be seen and praised by people, but to just love God. And that that is the overflow of how we live our life. And I love that. The promise is that we will see God, that we get to see Him. And I know I want to see him. And so I pray that purity over all of us. Verse 9 says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. And I. I view this as. You know, he is known as the Prince of Peace throughout Scripture. And so if we are his sons and daughters, then we are called to show that and carry that and give that and be that to other people. We should be carrying the peace of God in every room we walk in. We should be exercising peace in every relationship that we have, which means that we come against a spirit of division and compari and competition and gossip. And those things can so easily creep into our lives and into our relationships. But a peacemaker is one who says, no, no, I'm not gonna stand for that. I'm not gonna entertain gossiping conversations. I'm not gonna entertain comparison thoughts. Because I'm called to pursue peace and to keep the unity and to walk in love. And that's what peacemakers do. And that's how you know that they are children of God. And then verse 10 says, Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This just shows that if we follow Jesus, there will be persecution, there will be seasons of suffering. And where you can find comfort is knowing that even Jesus himself was known as the man of suffering, the Son of suffering, the man of sorrows. But the promise at the end is, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And what I love about this is a reminder that this is not our home, but Heaven is our home. And yes, he was the Son of suffering on this earth, but now he reigns, and he has all authority and power and dominion, and he is the Name above every name. And we get to rest knowing that even though we might go through a lot of hardship here, and there will be suffering and there will be trouble, Jesus says, take heart. I have overcome the world. And we get to know that he is where our hope is. He is where our peace is. He is where our security is. I want to encourage you guys, even if you're going through a really hard season, just remember that heaven is our home. And you can rejoice and be glad knowing that you will have a reward and a reward that will never perish or fade, but one that lasts forever. If you will just join me in prayer. Lord, we are so thankful that you have shown us the way and. And all of this. Of how we can be pure, of how we can walk in righteousness, of how we can be a peacemaker, of how we can be set apart in our speech and our love and our faith and our conduct and our fear, in our purity, how our life can truly look so different than the rest of this world. You have shown us the way. And I just pray each of these over my friends. I pray that they would be poor in spirit, Lord, that each of us would be so desper. Desperate and dependent upon you, knowing we can do nothing without you, that we are nothing without you. But with you we can bear fruit. Fruit that will last. I pray for my friends that we would mourn in our heart and that you would be our great comforter. Thank you, Lord, that you are our great comforter, no matter what we're facing, no matter what we're feeling, that you comfort our soul. And I pray that we would take sin seriously, that we wouldn't treat it casually or overlook it or dismiss it and treat it as not a big deal. For that is the lie of the enemy who comes to steal, kill and destroy. But, Lord, your way is the way. Way of truth and purity. And love and holiness. And your way is what leads to life. And so I pray that we would mourn over our sin and the sin of our world and repent over the sin of our world. And that we would walk, Lord, in that posture of resisting the sin of the world. I pray a meekness over my friends, Lord, that they would be meek in heart, meek in spirit. That they would resist, Lord, the temptation or the lust, Lord, for power, control and wanting to be known and important and praised and seen by others, Lord, I pray that just this strength under control, this humility, this quiet confidence, Lord, that would mark their life, that would show that they care more about pleasing you than pleasing others. And I pray that they would serve others well. I pray for them to be hungry and thirsty for righteousness, Lord, more than they hunger and thirst for anything else, Lord, that their soul would yearn for you, long for you, and thirst for you, and that you would fill them with more of you right now. I pray that there would be an emptying of themselves, that as they take this moment, that they would literally see themselves taking their cup of whatever they've been filling that cup with. And that they would begin to empty it and that you would begin to overflow it and fill it with more of you, more of you, more of you. For that is where true satisfaction is found, Lord. I pray that they would be merciful, Lord, in the same way you've given us mercy and forgiveness, that we would give others mercy and forgiveness even when they don't deserve it. And, Lord, that you would help us do that when it's really hard to do that. I pray purity over their heart, Lord, that they would be pure in heart, that their motives, their affections, their. The things that they're drawn to and attracted to, that where they spend their time, their talents, their treasures, Lord, all of it, Lord, would just be with a heart of holiness and purity, Lord, for the promises, we will see you, and we want to see you. And so, Lord, I just pray purity over their heart. That you would forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. And that you would reveal to us anything, Lord, that has been sitting on the idol of our heart that has kept us from walking in the way of purity and holiness. You would forgive us, Lord. And I pray that they would be peacemakers, Lord, that we would all walk in the way of peace and love and that we would seek unity and that we would not bring division, that we would not bring separation. But. But, Lord, in the same way that you are united as the Trinity, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. May we be united not only with you, but with other believers. I pray, Lord, that even if they're going through a hard season and they feel persecuted because of following you, I pray that they would cling to the hope and that you are the reward. And that heaven is our home and that we are just pilgrims passing through. Remind us right now of how to number our days. And remember, Lord, that we are not here forever, but that how we practice here will determine where we spend forever. And so, Lord, help us to have eyes on eternity. We give you this day. We thank you, Jesus, for who you are, for what you've done, and may we stay true today to your truth into what pleases you. In Jesus name, amen.