Sermon on the Mount – Beatitudes (3) — Matthew 5:8-12

by Rev. Jeremiah Cheung

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We have already discussed the first 5 of the eight beatitudes:

• Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When man is at the end of his rope, God begins.
• Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. When we mourn for our sins and feel shame because of our sins, then we are blessed, for then we have hope, because God will help us.
• Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. A meek person is one who lives in the 3D space. Not only does he have length, he has width and he has depth. Such a person is not petty and such a man will receive God’s inheritance.
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. He who thirsts for righteousness obeys God’s will. When a Christian makes obeying God’s will his food, his heart will find true fulfillment.
• Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. Mercy pertains to life quality. Mercy is unconditional. We show others mercy because we realize that we ourselves need mercy from others. Such a man is blessed for the Lord will show him mercy.

Today we continue with the last three Beatitudes.

5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God

Pure in heart means having a clean and holy heart. Hebrews 12:14 “Without holiness no one will see the Lord”. If our hearts are unclean, we cannot see God, we cannot experience God. A pure heart possesses spiritual perspective. Is your heart clean?

Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” The heart is most difficult to guard, the most difficult to keep holy, why? The prophet Isaiah said (Isaiah 6:5) “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.”

1st. I am a man of unclean lips. We ourselves have a problem, our hearts are the problem. Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” Each one of our hearts is as filthy as described in this verse. We truly need heart surgery and new hearts. We need to take our hearts and wash them with the precious blood of the Lord that may be made holy.

2nd. I live among a people of unclean lips. This is a problem with our environment. I do not know if you feel the same way but it seems our environment makes it harder and harder for us to live holy lives. When we watch TV, movies, advertisements, even read the newspapers, our eyes are continually lured by certain images. The photographers are really good at taking pictures. They know which angle to take to make the women beautiful and their bodies very seductive. It is really a challenge to guard our hearts!

“Would You Go to Bed with a Prostitute?” This was the title of an article in a Christian publication, written by a pastor from Taiwan. During the 2006 7th CCOWE Worldwide Congress in Macau, thousands of delegates arrived to join the conference. Macau is largely known as a gambling city. When a city is known for gambling, other forms of livelihood like sex and drugs will also turn up in that place, and that is so with Macau. There are many prostitutes in Macau. After checking himself into his hotel in Macau, the pastor decided to take a walk and find something to eat. Suddenly, two women, dressed very seductively, stopped him and asked if he wanted to enjoy himself. Of course, the pastor said no and quickly left. But when he returned to Taiwan, he asked himself, “I do not live in Macau, I do not work there, but what if I work there, and every day I meet women dressed so seductively asking me if I want some pleasure, will I say yes?”

One time, he told his congregation this story and asked them, “Do you think your pastor will say yes?” He said no one spoke a word in answer to his question. One time, the pastor said he told this same story and asked the same question to a group people in the mountain provinces in Taiwan. One man spoke up and said, “Pastor, you will say yes.” The pastor felt touched. He was reminded of how different city people and mountain people were. People from the big city, like us, have learned to put on masks, we tend to be less honest in facing ourselves. The truth is when we are placed in a perfect situation for sin, you will fall, I will fall, all of us will fall. When we take business trips and our wife warns us to be careful of women and we say `I won’t. Don’t you trust me? I am a deacon, I am a small group leader, I am the senior pastor of the church, I will not fall’, disaster may just happen, for when we fail to be alert, we will fall.

When I give exhortations during weddings, I often tell the bride: What is a husband? In Chinese, one character for the word husband means ten feet. A husband is the man within ten feet of you. A good wife will not let her husband go too far alone. A good wife will take care of her husband’s needs. If you don’t take care of him, some other woman will help you take care of him. In the end, the man fails and the woman fails with him. We must not say, “I won’t fall.” We must say, “I can fail.” When you say I can fail, then, you will be alert. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Jesus did not say blessed are those who love peace, for don’t we all wish for world peace? Instead, Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers. We are peacemakers not troublemakers. We must create an environment of peace, for then we will be called sons of God.

St. Francis has a famous prayer called: “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace.”

“Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me bring your love,
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord,
And where there is doubt, true faith in You;
Make me a channel of your peace;
Where there is despair in life, let me bring hope;
Where there is darkness, only light,
And where there’s sadness, ever joy.
Oh, Master grant that I may never seek,
So much to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love with all my soul.
Make me a channel of your peace,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
It is in giving to all man that we receive,
And in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

This prayer teaches us to be a peacemaker. Problems in this world are all created by men. Some people cause trouble wherever they go. These people are troublemakers. There are many troublemakers in society and even, in the church, but the true sons of God are peacemakers, not troublemakers. Which one are you?

Harmony is not easy. In “A Study of War”, the book records that from 1480-1941, the world had a total of 246 wars – Great Britain 78x, France 71x, Spain 64x, Japan 9x, USA 13x, China 11x. In 4000 years of human history, we only had 300 years of peace. It is truly difficult to maintain peace among men. How about inside the church? It is neither easy for the church to maintain peace. Have you realized that in the church we rarely seek to investigate matters? When someone reports bad things about another person, we do not investigate or seek to verify whether it is true or not. This happens because we are afraid of confronting people. But the bigger problem is we pass on the news without verifying its truth, resulting in a lot of rumors circulated. Let us learn together and be responsible with the things we say. When we are not sure, we must not pass it on. Remember we are peacemakers, not troublemakers.

Do not speak badly of others behind their backs, especially things which you are not certain of. If you spread unverified news, the church will be full rumors, and become a church full of discord, quarrels and divisions; how then will the Lord’s name be glorified? Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. The responsibility of the sons of peace is to spread the gospel of peace, so that others may become sons of peace too. We are like instruments of peace in God’s hand, just like St. Francis said, `make me a channel of your peace.’ Let us learn together and refrain from uttering irresponsible statements, for we are peacemakers, not troublemakers.

5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 5:11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Verses 11 and 12 seek to explain the meaning of the first part of verse ten, `blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.’ Jesus said: Prophets came before you and they were persecuted too. To be persecuted for righteousness is not a new thing, it is a very ordinary occurrence. From Genesis to Revelation, we see one righteous man after another experience persecution.

Abel was persecuted and killed by his older brother Cain. Why? Because Abel was righteous while Cain was wicked. Joseph’s brothers threw him into a cistern and sold him into Egypt as a slave. Why? Because Joseph often told his father the evil deeds of his brothers, so his brothers wanted to kill him. David served Saul faithfully, but Saul pursued and wanted to kill David because he was envious of him. Elijah served the Lord faithfully and killed 400 priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel, bringing revival to the whole nation and so Queen Jezebel wanted to kill him. Jeremiah courageously declared the Lord’s message that Israel will be captured by Babylon, as a result he was beaten and even threatened to be killed. Daniel, because he prayed three times a day, was thrown into the lions’ den. In the New Testament, John the Baptist rebuked King Herod and was thrown into jail, and later on, beheaded. The 12 disciples, except John who was exiled to the island of Patmos, were all martyred because they served the Lord. Paul also suffered and was martyred for the Lord.

Before and after 100AD to 313 AD, more than ten great persecutions had broken out and thousands upon thousands of believers were killed. To be persecuted for righteousness is a normal occurrence, not an unusual thing, Paul told Timothy: everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2Tim 3:12). So, we must have a heart ready and willing to suffer for the Lord.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness! For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Who is this `me’? It is the Lord Jesus. To be persecuted for righteousness is to be persecuted because of Jesus. When we are insulted, persecuted and falsely accused, we must first ask one question – what is the reason?

1Peter 2:19-20 “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.” Why do we suffer? If it is because of our own wrongdoing, then what is there to boast about? It is but right. But if you suffer for the sake of righteousness, this is commendable before God. Are we suffering right now? For whom are we suffering, for the Lord or for ourselves?

While I was still in Hong Kong, once, I brought some brothers and sisters to the park to share the gospel. When I was sharing the gospel to a man, another man beside him suddenly stood up, pointed at me and began to strongly scold me, saying: `Leave, you dog, you traitor!’ It turned out that when the man heard me speak of Jesus, he felt this was betraying the country, that I was spreading a foreign religion, so he insulted me and called me a traitor. After I came to serve the Lord in the Philippines, I was once asked to officiate a memorial service for a deceased person. There were unbelievers as well as believers in that family. The unbelievers accused me of not respecting the deceased when I went to officiate the memorial service. Brothers and sisters, when we are persecuted, insulted, falsely accused, we must ask ourselves: `Am I being insulted for the Lord or for my own wrongdoing?’

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness! For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is a test upon entering the kingdom of heaven. Before becoming a believer, when others insulted us, we retaliated with more insults; when others uttered injurious words against us, we returned even more injurious words. Now that we are a believer, when we are insulted and persecuted, do we still react similarly? If so, what then is the difference between knowing the Lord and not knowing the Lord? Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Only such men are worthy of entering the kingdom of heaven, how about you?