Blessed are...

I just finished listening to the Mars Hill series on the Beatitudes. Here's a summary of what I learned:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
 - Being poor in spirit is not a good condition.  It basically means the people who there is no reason for them to be blessed. We always think that the good people, the righteous people get blessed by God, but the poor in spirit is the opposite of that.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
- This includes when we mourn for those who have died, but it also included when we mourn the state of our spirit.  Being poor in spirit can cause us to mourn our condition.

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."
- The meek are the overlooked, the ones who aren't getting their fair share.  The world says the earth belongs to the powerful, but Jesus says it belongs to the meek.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
- When we feel like the world is just not right, when we long for God's peace and justice to fill the world, we are blessed.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
-The Samaritan in Jesus' parable was the one who had mercy on his enemy. Mercy is more than just feeling sorry for people, it is doing something about it. It includes loving everyone, even our enemies.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
-The opposite of pure in heart is hypocrisy.  Being pure in heart has everything to do with how we are on the inside.  Hypocrisy is when our inside doesn't match our outside.  Hypocrite has a very negative meaning in our culture, but in Jesus' time, it meant something closer to "actor."  When we are hypocrites, we are acting on the outside, we are putting on a show of rightness or purity that isn't really us.  It reminds me of the Casting Crowns song "Stained Glass Masquerade." Stained Glass Masquerade lyrics

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God."
- The world wants to divide everyone into sides - are you with them, or with them?  Joshua 5:13-14.  "Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand.  Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?" "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come."  When we are peacemakers, we don't take sides.  The world doesn't like this, they want everyone to take sides.  In a sort of trivial example, no one in Columbus wants to hear my answer when they ask if I am an Ohio State or Michigan fan.  They want me to pick a side.  They would rather I be a Michigan fan than just not care about which side I'm on.  I think this extends to all issues with sides.  Choosing "None of the above" is not a choice with most people.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
- Because the world doesn't want to hear I'm on no one's side, because I'm on everyone's side, it can lead to being persecuted.  Jesus says that when others misunderstand our motives and start to persecute us, we are blessed.

The first four are about our condition.  God blesses us when we are poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry for righteousness.  The other four are about our relation to other people.  God blesses us when we are merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted.

Rob Bell said that the Beatitudes are an announcement of how the world really is.  Ed Dobson said they are an invitation to change.  Kent Dobson said they are both.  I especially think this is true of the last four. True, they are an announcement of what the world is like, a reminder that God blesses us in the struggle, not just when we have it all together.  But, I also found those to be challenging to me. If this is what Jesus said his followers should be like shouldn't I want to be like that?  Is the desire to be a peacemaker, more merciful, pure in heart, and so on, a hunger and thirst for righteousness?

One more point was very interesting to me.  The first and the last have the same blessing: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  That's for the poor in spirit and the persecuted.  Is the whole thing a cycle?  Does God allow us to be persecuted so that we revisit our helplessness and "loserness"?  It does seem that the others kind of grow out of that one.  It's when we realize that we don't have it all together, that there's really no reason for God to bless us, that we're being left out, then we begin to hunger for something better.  Then we start to show more mercy to others, we are more pure in heart toward them, we start to see both sides and stop creating divisions.  Then that can lead to persecution from the people who don't understand Jesus' way.  And then it starts again.  But the good news is that God is with us the whole time.  He blesses us in the whole process.

This has certainly been the most interesting and challenging sermons series I've heard in a while!