This sermon was preached to Grace Church Guildford on 15 May 2022. The audio of the sermon can be found below along with the transcript.
Robin stretched himself out on the sun lounger. Feet up. Head back. He could hear the lapping of the waves in the distance, feel the sun’s rays on his face, see the golden sand and crystal-clear sea stretch out before him. As the waiter dropped off another round of his favourite snacks and drinks, he thought to himself, ‘This is the life.’
Claire was thinking something similar. However, rather than being on a sunny beach holiday, she was nestled into her cosy living room. She had just enjoyed a meal with friends and family and now the fire was on they had started chitchatting, maybe later play a boardgame. She zoned out of the conversation momentarily, thinking, ‘How lucky I am to have these loved ones. I wouldn’t trade moments like this one for anything.’
It was trading that filled the thoughts of Sam and Jenny. They had been investing pension contributions in funds for years and recently their shares started trading at extraordinary prices. Soon they will be able to pay off the mortgage and retire early at 45. Their long-held dream of having the financial security to comfortably live out the rest of their days in a cottage in the Cotswolds was close to becoming a reality.
Kate on the other hand had no intention of retiring. Her longstanding boss had just left and now their job was up for grabs. Having effectively done all the work her boss was supposed to do for the last ten years, she was in prime position to receive the promotion. Then everyone will finally see just how capable and successful she is.
Rather than looking forward, James was looking back. A few years ago, he had been suffering from several illnesses and struggling with his mental health. However, after two years of treatment, as well as a new lifestyle of healthy eating and physical training, he now feels in control of both mind and body. Full of energy and positivity, James feels he is starting to really live.
While each of those five fictional scenarios differ from each other in many ways, they are really descriptions of how different people all answer the same question. Throughout history this question has haunted humanity. Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, everyone who has ever lived has come up with their own personal way to solve this perpetual problem. Every one of us in this room currently has an answer to this question: How can I be truly happy? Even if you have never explicitly asked it, the details of your life display how you try to answer it. Friends, the pursuit of pleasure, hunger for happiness, isn’t just seen in immature students partying night and day for a few years at university. It is ultimately the drive behind every decision every human makes every day: from picking holidays, to building a cosy family life, to retirement options, to promotions at work, to going to the gym, to what we eat for lunch. We all in our own way are answering the same question: How can I be happy?
We shall see this evening that is the very question Jesus answers in our passage. It’s a significant question, and so we should not be surprised to find the answer to it here at this significant moment in Matthew’s gospel. From the beginning of this year, we have slowly been working our way through the early chapters of this book, an account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We have considered the circumstances of his birth, the significance of his baptism, and the astonishing impact of his first days in ministry. That is where we left off last time in 4:23-25.
It is at this moment, when Jesus’ popularity is at its peak, that Matthew records the first of five great sections of teaching, the five sermons of Jesus that provide the backbone of his book (5-7; 10; 13; 18; 24-25). This first one, known as the Sermon on the Mount due to the location in 5:1, is not only the longest of the five, but it is the longest single section of Jesus’ teaching recorded anywhere in the Bible. Further, it not only has been placed at the forefront of Matthew, but in God’s providence, it has also been placed at the start of the whole New Testament. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the Sermon on the Mount has attracted so much attention over the years. The famous early church father, Augustine, called it "the perfect measure of the Christian life." And many claim it is the most commented-on portion of Scripture in history. In the 1950s, the London-based minster, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, preached through these three chapters in 60 sermons. You can get those in book form, and I commend them to you. However, you may be glad to know we will cover it in 6 rather than 60 sermons. That is not only because I am trying to work through the whole book of Matthew sometime in the next few years, but also because David Skull preached a longer standalone series here around this time last year. So again, if you find you develop an itch for more Sermon on the Mount, feel free to scratch it by going to our website and relistening to David’s series.
All that is to say, with only 6 sermons, we will simply be looking at the big building blocks together. Trying to understand the branches of this great oak tree of a sermon, rather than stopping to investigate every acorn. We begin with in 5:1-16, which is effectively the sermon’s introduction. As we said, here Jesus addresses the great question of human happiness. However, remarkably, he also addresses a second great question that humanity often asks: Why am I here? So those are the two questions Jesus answers in our passage: (1) What does true happiness look like? (2) What am I here for? As we will see: (1) The Good Life (5:3-12); and (2) The Great Light (5:13-16).
1. THE GOOD LIFE: What does true happiness look like? (5:3-12)
Did you notice Jesus begins his sermon in a similar way to how I began mine? His introduction also gives a series of snapshots of what ‘the good life’ looks like. That is what Jesus is doing with these nine ‘blessed are’ statements in 5:3-12. They are commonly known as ‘Beatitudes’, but the technical name for such sentences is a ‘makarism’, after the Greek word ‘mak-ar-is-mos’, which is translated here in the NIV ‘blessed’. And long before Jesus headed up that hill, Greek philosophers and Roman thinkers had been pondering this problem of how humans could be truly happy, what a life of ‘makarismos’ (blessing) looked like. And it wasn’t only Gentiles, but God’s people had done the same, forming their findings into phrases like these, as we seen earlier in Psalm 32. The Old Testament contains many makarisms. Indeed, the whole book of Psalms begins with one, "Blessed is the man..." (1:1).
That translation of ‘blessed is/are’ is common, yet can lead to a misreading that misses what Jesus is saying. For example, in 5:3 Jesus is not saying the poor in spirit will be blessed, rather that they live a life that has already been blessed. As David Skull put it last year, it is proclaiming congratulations over someone’s life. It is what you are doing when you read about someone’s significant life event on social media and you hit ‘like’. You are saying, ‘Well done, great, I’m sure you’re so happy!’ That’s why various translators over the years have rendered the Beatitudes ‘happy’, ‘fortunate’, ‘flourishing’ and, the one I like most, ‘blissful’. Here, in these nine statements, Jesus is teaching us what happiness, what a life of bliss, looks like.
You will see each beatitude is made up of two parts. They contain a description and an explanation. They describe the kind of person who is living the good life, and explain the reason why this is the case. We will consider the descriptions and then the explanations.
First then, how does Jesus describe this good life? Who are these people who are experiencing this true happiness? Well, when we start looking at these descriptions we soon realise while everyone has asked the question what true happiness looks like, no one has ever answered it like Jesus does. Jesus’ understanding of the good life is unique! If you are here and not a Christian this evening, what do you think true happiness looks like? How would you fill in this sentence: I will be truly happy when________? Perhaps you are like one of those five fictional characters at the start, with attitudes and aims betraying their own beatitudes: (1) Blessed are those on holiday for they at ease; (2) Blessed are those with family and friends for they are loved; (3) Blessed are the finically secure for they are safe; (4) Blessed are the successful for they are admired; (5) Blessed are the healthy for they are in control. That is what this world envisions true happiness looks like. Have you adopted some of those beatitudes as your own? If so, see here in these 9 sentences what Jesus said true happiness looks like.
I say 9, but the last in 5:11-12 is really a doubling down of the 8th for emphasis, for it also speaks of persecution. So there are 8 distinct beatitudes in 5:3-10. However, far from being 8 unrelated remarks, they are packaged together and presented in a particular order. Charles Spurgeon likened them to a set of stairs, one leading to the next. We can see this as we walk through them: they begin in 5:3 with the "poor in spirit". Not the economically poor, but the spiritually poor. Those who recognise their spiritual bank account, as it were, is empty. That they have little to contribute or offer in the way of spirituality. That sin has stripped them of all their spiritual resources. Jesus is saying that the good life is lived by men and woman who can echo those final words of Martin Luther, who upon his deathbed, after all he had seen about God’s righteousness and mercy, declared, "We are beggars; this is true", and died. The first step on this stairway to happiness is to realise our emptiness, that we are beggars entirely dependent on a merciful God. That if we are to be spiritually rich, we must receive it as a gift. That initial finding leads to 5:4, with those realising their sinful spiritual state and repenting, mourning over their sin, their rebellion against a good and holy God. And so, in 5:5 come to a settled understanding, a firm grasp, of who they really are, for they are described as "meek". They have been humbled: accepted what the Bible tells them about themselves and adopted an attitude that corresponds to that. Rather than being filled with self-importance and self-regard, they have died to themselves. As one hymn we sometime sing puts it, "self on the cross and Christ upon the throne." They don’t want prominence or fame, what they want we see in 5:6 is holiness. They are hungry for holiness, long to be like Jesus, to reflect God’s right character (love, kindness, faithfulness, goodness). As we shall see, this hunger for holiness, longing for a life of righteousness, is a central theme through the rest of the sermon.
From those first four descriptions, we see that we enter into the good life by realising how empty we are. That we are helpless, hurt, humble and hungry. If these are a set of stairs, then we see that they descend rather than acscend, ever spirals downward into deeper appreciation of just how needy we really are before God and a deeper hunger to be like him. However, here at the halfway point, we pivot. Like the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes start with our relationship to God and then turn to our relationship with others. From 5:7 these happy people are described as "merciful", "pure in heart", that is purity of thought and motive and desire is at the centre of all they do, and then in 5:9 "peacemakers". As they go about this world they are in the business of restoring relationship and quelling conflicts. And perhaps the most shocking beatitude is right at the end. For how does Jesus conclude this chain? What is the summit of this summary of what the true happiness looks like? In 5:10 Jesus says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness". And repeats it in 5:11, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me."
Could there be a greater disparity between what this world says happiness looks like and how Jesus describes it here? We naturally assume happiness looks like prosperity, whether it is financial, social, vocational or physical. But Jesus teaches that persecution is actually a sign of true happiness. This world points to someone relaxing on a sun lounger on a beach and says, ‘Look, there is someone who is happy’. Instead, Jesus points to those 21 Coptic Christians kneeling on that beach in Libya 2015. Captured by ISIS, dressed in orange jumpsuits, each was paraded before the camera before being beheaded on video. That is who Jesus points to, saying ‘There is the good life, that is what true happiness looks like.’ This world dreams of a beach to lie on, Christianity can lead a beach to die on.
This world points to a family around a fire, or friends socialising together. Jesus points to John and Betty Stam. In 1934 while serving as missionaries in China, they and their 3-month-old baby Helen were captured by communist soldiers. On the morning of 8 November 1934, they managed to hide Helen in their jail cell, before the two of them were marched through the town to a hill outside it. John was ordered to kneel and was swiftly beheaded. Betty then knelt beside the body of her husband and suffered the same fate. That is who Jesus points to and says, ‘There, those are the people who are truly happy.’
This world says save yourself, Christianity calls us to spend ourselves. Brothers and sisters, if we are being totally honest tonight, which of those two lives are you personally more attracted to? See here the picture Jesus paints of the good life, a happiness that runs from poverty to persecution, and take time to apply this truth to yourself. Parents, which of these two versions of the good life are you pointing your kids towards? What kind of future are you helping them to lay the foundations for? Is it primarily university, financial security and a partner for family stability? Those are all good things, but see here that Jesus says they are not central to what a life of happiness looks like? They aren’t in his picture! Teenagers, as you sit exams over the next few weeks, we hope you do well. We are praying for you. If you are single, are these characteristics at the top of your list for who you are looking to date? And perhaps more importantly, is this the kind of person you are striving to become for whoever might date you? A man mature in these ways? A woman displaying these virtues? If this is what the good life looks like, surely a happy married life is going to involve the same qualities? Be between people with these characteristics? Are you looking someone who will not only lie beside you on a beach on holiday, but who would die with you on a beach for Jesus? Brother, are you looking for a Betty Stam? Sister, a John Stam? Someone who will go hand in hand with you to that hillside to give your life for Jesus together, if that is what he brings you into?
When we see how Jesus describes the good life, it is shocking isn’t it? I’m sure the crowds that day were a little dazed by his teaching. And yet, as we turn to the reasons, the explanations for these descriptions, we begin to see why it all makes sense. Yes, Jesus says that in the present the good life looks like poverty and persecution, but in the future we see that rewards and riches abound! The beatitudes of this world bank on the present; the beatitudes of Christianity are based on the future. This world and our sinful hearts tell us to try and make this life the best life possible; Christianity teaches us that the best is yet to come.
Did you notice the reasons in 5:3-10 start and end the same way? We are told both the poor and the persecuted (5:3,10) belong to the kingdom of heaven. That is Jesus’ way of summarising all the other reasons in between in 5:4-9. Why are these individuals living the happy life? Because they are members of the kingdom of heaven, the universal rule and eternal reign of Jesus Christ, that we previously seen in Matthew. Because Jesus is their king, they are the most enviable individuals on earth, their life is the good life.
We get a glimpse into what it means to be part of Christ’s kingdom when we read these promises in between in 5:4-9. We get some foretaste of these blessings in the present, but the full enjoyment of this banquet is in the future. Like the kingdom of heaven they belong to, they are partially present now, but will one day break in fully and eternally. As much joy as there is in the Christian life now – how wonderful is it to think that the best is yet to come? Like that bridegroom at the wedding in Cana in John 2, Jesus, our bridegroom, is saving the best wine to last.
You see that clearly in 5:12, when the persecuted are informed "great is your reward in heaven". Brothers and sisters, your life down here below may be difficult. As we read in Acts 14:22, we will go through many hardships before we enter the kingdom of God. And yet, see here that the destination far outweighs the difficulties on the way. One day those who mourn will weep no more over sin or its effects, no they will be comforted. One day those who have put themselves in the lowest places, will be raised into the highest, the last will be first, for the meek will inherit the earth. Your hunger for holiness, struggles to be free from the shackles of sin, longing to look like Jesus, will be satisfied. You will have more holiness than you know what to do with! You will be shown mercy that surpasses any of the mercy you display here. And you will do what no one has ever been able to do, see God, and enjoy the full blessing of being his child.
O can you see why Jesus points to the poor and persecuted and says that they are living the good life? Do you understand now how the Christian life is the life of true happiness? Why we can even point to those martyrs on the beach, the Stams on that hill and say there are the people that are truly happy! Because of their future hope, they had a happiness [...].
2. THE GREAT LIGHT: What am I here for? (5:13-16)
Finally, as we close, let us briefly consider this great light Jesus speaks of in 5:13-16. As I studied this passage, I felt as if I was driving along some of the little winding roads there are back in NI. The Romans never made it over the Irish Sea, and so the roads there tend to have a few more turns that even we have here. And the Sermon on the Mount is like that because it constantly surprises you with twists and turns. Having just turned our expectations of happiness upside down and inside out, Jesus now reverses another assumption we have. For having told us that the hungry are happy, he now tells us that it is the persecuted that are powerful.
We see this in 5:11-14. It is the persecuted ‘you’ of 5:11-12 that is said to be the salt of the earth and light of the world. Both analogies have the same basic meaning, of influencing and impacting the world, but get there in two different ways. Salt speaks of Christians having a preservative effect. It would have been rubbed on meat to prevent it rotting, for at the time they had no refrigeration. Whereas light has a more positive, improving, effect, turning darkness into light, night into day. Salt slows the decay. Light brightens the dark. That is how Jesus describes the effect of his people of this world. Yes, the world persecutes them, but at the same time they are preserving the world. As salt, they prevent the decay of sin, hold back some of its effects. However, even more than that, as light, they are slowly and steadily defeating the dark, rolling back the domain of darkness and expanding the kingdom of light. For in 5:16, we see that through their witness in this world, others, perhaps even those who at first persecute them, see their good deeds and glorify their Father in heaven. That is, they take Jesus as their king and come into his kingdom. As Christians, we see this is what we are here for. To see others come and join us in this happy march to future glory. To see this dark and decaying world transformed into one of joy and peace, as the kingdom of heaven extends across the earth. As God is finally glorified by his creation, his goal from the very beginning.
Like in every episode of that 1990s cartoon, Pinky and the Brain, our objective tonight is nothing less than ‘planning to take over the world’. And yet, do you see that the plan is a remarkably simple one? Notice here that Jesus doesn’t leave complicated instructions on how to shine our light, apply this salt. He doesn’t even command us to be light and salt. He simply says: "You are...". Just by living this good life, by showing mercy, walking meekly, suffering patiently, acting purely, hungering for holiness, they will influence and impact this world.
Brother and sister, what your family, your workplace, your community needs, is for you to live this kind of life: to puzzle them with your purity, confuse them with your kindness, shock them with the sincerity of your faith, to humble them with your honesty. And as just one little light in this world, come together with lots of other littles lights in a local church, a community of God’s people, in order to bask and bathe towns and cities and countries in the beautiful light of lives changed by the gospel. We are to live a life that so positively personifies these beatitudes, that they cannot ignore its brightness, to so sprinkle salt everywhere we go that those around us cannot but taste traces of it, and wonder, and ask, and enquire, about the hope that is within us. Of course, many will reject our explanations, some may even persecute us as we read about in 5:11. But Jesus says in 5:16 that there will be those "see your good deeds" and upon hearing about what Jesus has done for us and can do for them, will "glorify your Father in heaven" by trusting in the very same Saviour and turning to follow him alongside us.
If you are not a Christian not, as we close, can I just be honest with you? We are so glad you to have you come along to Grace Church. To spend time getting to know you. But just to be clear, it is our hope and prayer that 5:16 will describe you. We know that sometimes we aren’t as salty as we should be, that often we dim the light through our own weaknesses and failings. But do you know, that without Jesus, we would be so much worse. And we hope that upon seeing the difference that Jesus has made in our lives, and upon hearing what we has done for all who trust in him, that you too will glorify our Father in Heaven. Worship our God, take Jesus as your king, enter into his good kingdom.
Do you know that is actually what you are here on this earth for? [...] You we’re made to glorify God. And yet because of sin, because each of us has rejected him as Lord, we stand not under his blessing, it his curse. We are set to spend our days not living the good life, but a life of guilt that leads to an eternity of judgement.
And yet the good news of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ, the very man that spoke these blessings on the mountain that day, died on the cross to secure them for his people. For the Stams that day were only following in the footsteps of their master. He too was taken outside a city wall and executed. And yet because he had no sin [...]. Not fleeting happiness like eating an icecream, but real lasting happiness - wholeness, rightness, pease, prosperity, blessing, a wellness of not just of mind and body, but of soul. A wellness that endures even through sorrows like sea billows roll. [...]. Will you find that kind of happiness and wellness in Jesus tonight?
ALEXANDER ARRELL