Matthew 5:4

Matthew 5:4

We are continuing the Bible study today in Matthew chapter 5. At the beginning of this discourse are the beatitudes. Jesus is telling us His formula for true and lasting happiness. God wants us to be happy. He gave us life in order to enjoy it and to live it to the fullest. Jesus said, "I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly." Several times Jesus said to the disciples, "Be of good cheer." Cheer up, enjoy life, and be happy.

In verse 4 of Matthew chapter 5 Jesus said, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." Jesus looked at the multitudes and in thinking about the human condition, His great compassion went out to them. He understands how great our sufferings can sometimes be, and He feels for us and He has a plan to take care of things.

How can those that mourn be happy? When we mourn, we certainly are not cheerful, so why is it that Jesus would say that they who mourn are in a blessed or happy condition? Perhaps He is talking about those who mourn because of their sins. This same word is used elsewhere in the New Testament to refer to sorrow for sin, and we know that there must be a true turning away from sin to receive the comfort of the assurance of forgiveness.

But perhaps Jesus is using the word "mourn" in the more general sense of sorrow as a result of some suffering or loss. If so, He is telling us that we can be assured of finding comfort and consolation at such times. Life can have many sufferings. Who knows what great trial, or affliction, or disappointment that you or I may yet have to face in our journey with God? Jesus said, "In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world."

The word "comforted" that Jesus used is an interesting word. It is the same word that He used when He promised the disciples that even though He was going to leave by His death on the cross, He would send them another comforter, the Holy Spirit. In John 16:7 Jesus said, "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send Him unto you." The word "comforter" in Greek means “one called along-side.” God will always be the companion of His children. He will always be there to comfort us, to console us, to help us through any distress. Jesus said, "I am with you always even to the end of the world." Even in the midst of sorrow, we can have abiding joy through Christ who carries us through the sorrow. Jesus said it very well, "Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted."

In verse 5 Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." We must first understand what is meant by the word "meek." It certainly does not mean weakness of any kind. Actually the word is used two more times in the Gospel of Matthew, both times referring to Jesus Himself. In Matthew 11:29 Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls." Matthew 21:5 quotes Zechariah and says of Jesus; "Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold your king comes unto you, meek, and sitting upon a donkey and a colt, the foal of a donkey." Later you may want to look at Zechariah 9:9 and you will see that our Bible translators used the word "lowly" when they translated the Hebrew, and of course the word "meek" when they translated the Greek, as we have just read.

To be meek means to be gentle and considerate. It means to not vaunt oneself and to not be vain or high-minded. Philippians chapter 2 also refers to this characteristic when it says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

I have always thought that it would be a wonderful thing to inherit something. If you inherit something through a will it means that someone cared about you so much that at the time of their leaving this earth, they wanted to help you and leave you with a portion of what they left behind. God also has an inheritance program and policy. For those who follow the Lord and let go of the mad and selfish grabbing for things and property, these are the ones that will ultimately inherit all that is. For a limited time believers and unbelievers share the world and its resources. No one really owns anything, even though they think they do. They are granted the use of a portion of the earth perhaps, and will one-day give an account to the Master of what they did with it. What a day that will be when the real owners take possession! As Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

In verse 6 of Matthew chapter 5 Jesus said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Jesus tells us that we are to have a very specific goal, and that goal is to do what is right. In moral and ethical issues the goal must always be to do what is right. Have you ever seen a road sign that says “Keep Right”? The road sign for life is “Do Right”. Until the stars fall, do what is right. Doing what is right must be more important than getting what we want. Jesus said that a man's life does not consist of the things that he does possess. We must even be willing to lose if that is what it takes to do what is right.

It is interesting that Jesus says that we need to "hunger and thirst" after righteousness. Hunger and thirst are basic human motivations. If we do not satisfy our need for food and water, our physical lives will not survive. In the same way, if the desire to do what is right is not a part of our basic motivation, there is no way that we will survive all of the distractions and compromises of a world that has its priorities misplaced. No one comes to Jesus for forgiveness of sin without also having a true desire to do what is right. No matter how long we have been Christians, we need to be careful not to lose that desire.

Doing what is right will result in happiness. Only God knows who is the best person in the world, but if we could find them we would discover that they are also the happiest. Righteousness and happiness go together. I know that in my own life many of the sorrows were simply the consequences of my own actions. If I had only been wiser and better, I would have had better consequences, fewer sorrows, and greater happiness. A key to happiness is not to seek happiness itself, but to seek to do what is right. How true it is what Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."

In Matthew chapter 5 and verse 7 Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Mercy is defined as “kind and compassionate treatment of an offender, enemy, prisoner, or other person under one's power.” We all have a sense of justice. When there is a wrong, it is normal to expect that the wrongdoer will be punished. But we need to make sure that we do not go too far in demanding a strict application of justice. The reason for that is that we all do wrong and at times are in need of mercy. The Old Testament requires an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Jesus has revealed for us in the New Testament, the magnificence of mercy. Mercy is when we do not get what we deserve. I read once where Martin Luther King, Jr. was quoted as saying, that if we go back to an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; we are going to end up with a bunch of blind people with no teeth. This idea of getting revenge does not work. It only ends in a vicious cycle where no one wins. Look at the Arabs and the Israelis. They both arm themselves to the hilt and the police carry machine guns ready to fire at a moment's notice. Their justice is harsh and swift. The senseless killing does not end, largely because: these teachings of Jesus have not been given a big enough place in the two cultures.

We hear from a lot of people today crying out for harsher punishments for offenders, and it may be needed in certain situations. But if we ever get to the place where mercy has no chance of being considered, then we will have failed as a society. It is always easy to have no feelings of compassion when the offender is someone that you do not know, but if it is your loved one that gets arrested and you think that there are other circumstances to be considered, you will hope that there is mercy.

It is interesting that Jesus links obtaining mercy with giving mercy. We are glad and happy to be the objects of God's mercy. But no one can honestly ask the Lord for mercy if they are holding a grudge against someone else. We hope and even expect that others will treat us with kindness, and respect, and courtesy. But what happens when they do not? Actually we need to expect that we will be treated in ways that we do not want. Sinners will sin. It is going to happen that you are going to be mistreated. Plan on being merciful. There are countless ruined relationships; family, personal, and business relationships that could have mended if one or both parties had shown a little mercy. You will be better off, and you will be happier if you are merciful. Remember that Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."

In verse 8 of Matthew chapter 5 Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." In talking about the pure in heart, Jesus is speaking of the inner life, our inner thoughts, motivation and will. Both God and man see our outward actions, but only God sees what is in each of us. None of us are entirely innocent. In order to be truly pure in heart we must be cleansed by His power of forgiveness. No one will be worthy to stand in the presence of God who has not first come to Jesus to be cleansed from his sins. These are the ones who will be admitted into the presence of God. No one else will be. There have been several movies created by Hollywood that depict events around the life of Christ. Some of them are: The Robe, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Ben Hur, and Barabbas. I think the ones that do the best representation of Jesus and that create the greatest effect are the ones that never show His face. How fantastic that will be to look at the face of God. How privileged those will be who do so, how blessed! As Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Matthew chapter 5 and verse 9 says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." God Himself is the greatest of all peacemakers. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. Romans 5:1 says; "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." No one will ever be able to experience true peace until they make their peace with God. There is always a lot of talk about peace. It is often mentioned in the news, and has always been one of the great hopes of mankind. The desire for peace is the reason that the United Nations was created. Whenever there is a war, the people are always elated at the end of the war, because finally peace is achieved. But much too soon thereafter, other wars break out. Why: because there are still too many individuals that are not peacemakers. I am not saying that we should always run away from a fight. But many conflicts, both personal and national, could be avoided. Sometimes the associated sufferings and the loss of life would have never happened if only there had been a few key individuals who were peacemakers.

Think of the Civil War and the hundreds of thousands of young men who were butchered, and the destruction, and the decades of hatred from both sides, and the countless families that were devastated. If only there had been a few more peacemakers when the maddening cry for war broke out.

This is a distinguishing characteristic that Jesus gave of those who are the "children of God". We must ask ourselves if we are peacemakers. In our relationships with others, when we come up against opposition and those who disagree with us, are we truly peacemakers? We must remember that the best influence that we could ever have on anyone for peace is to help introduce them to the peace that is based upon the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ.

There is a lot of uncertainty in this world, and a lot of anxiety. There is increasing job insecurity in the work place. The things that we hear on the evening news are not going to increase our peace of mind. What the world really needs is to hear more about the peace of God. As Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."

Matthew 5:10-13 says "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." The first of the beatitudes in verse 3 and this last one in verse 10 both use the phrase "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." It is a wonderful thing to be destined for God's kingdom. But there is a price to pay. Remember that Jesus said the servant is not greater than his Lord, meaning that His believers and followers would suffer persecution after the example of His sufferings. The followers of Jesus are more than happy to suffer for Him. It is a great privilege to be counted worthy to suffer for Him. After, all He suffered so horribly so that we could be forgiven our trespasses and could inherit eternal life. The worse thing that the nonbelievers can do is kill us, but we would just go to be with the Lord. Paul said, "For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain."

Should we complain or criticize the government when laws are passed that persecute us? Jesus says in verse 12 to rejoice and be exceeding glad. Should we be down in the dumps or feel sorry for ourselves when we recognize animosity from others simply because we want to do what is right? Jesus said to rejoice and be exceeding glad.

Each of the beatitudes up to this last one is mentioned in just one sentence by Jesus, and how great is the depth of meaning in each of those sentences. But when He mentions persecution, He actually continues to speak on the subject from verse 10 through verse 16 of Matthew chapter 5. In Matthew chapter 13 Jesus gives the parable of the sower. He tells us that what can happen to some people is that they can receive the Word of God with joy, but because of tribulation or persecution, they stumble. We will be tempted to not do what is right and to not let our light shine because of fear of persecution. It happens to believers much too often. Remember the fear that gripped Peter when he denied the Lord.

Jesus mentioned the characteristics of persecution in verse 11. There are three kinds of persecution, according to Jesus. The first is to be reviled. It is normal to want to be liked and to be loved. It is a basic human instinct. Maybe this was mentioned first by Jesus because it is the worst of persecutions. If we have the wrong perspective, it can hurt greatly to be rejected, disliked, or reviled. But never forget that love is stronger than hate. Concerning the second kind of persecution, Jesus actually uses the word persecute, which means to pursue maliciously. It refers to actions against a person. In this category go all of the things that we usually think of when we talk about persecution: violence against one's person, casting into prison and insane asylums, theft, and destruction of property.

The third category of persecutions is explained when Jesus said, "and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely." These are the persecutions of words. Words can hurt just as much as actions. Believers are not better than unbelievers. Believers are sinners who follow Jesus out of appreciation for being forgiven of their sins. Nonbelievers are sinners who still live under the guilt of their sins. They are compelled to condemn us because they feel condemned when they detect a difference in our lives because of belief in Jesus. They just do not understand. But of course, we should not view them as enemies. Our attitude should be the same as that of the Lord when people crucified Him and He said, "Father forgive them, because they know not what they do."

Jesus told us to rejoice and be exceedingly glad when we suffer persecution, and He gave us three reasons why. Two of the reasons are in verse 12. The first is that there will be rewards given in heaven to those who have been persecuted. Jesus called these rewards "great rewards". Secondly, the prophets before us, who walked with God, talked with God, and spoke God's words were persecuted also. How privileged are ordinary people like you and me to be equated by Jesus with the prophets, if we are willing to suffer the persecutions that they suffered!

The third reason to rejoice in persecutions is from verse 10 that "theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The scripture says that all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. When you get to heaven and you meet everyone who is there and hear their stories, we will probably understand even more clearly that everyone who loved God suffered persecution. When you look into Jesus' eyes, and realize the greatness of your sins, and see the scars from His crucifixion, you will wish that you had only suffered more for Him. Perhaps you will think back to the Sermon on the Mount, to Matthew 5:10 and will say to yourself, How true was the statement made by Jesus, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

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