Matthew 5:1-12

True Happiness (2)

•Last week = essentials of salvation

•Poverty of Spirit / Kingdom of Heaven

•Mourning (Repentance) / Comforter

•Meek (Surrender to Jesus) / Inherit the earth (God’s Plan)

•This week = Evidence & Fruit of that exchanged life

•Happy...hunger and thirst for righteousness - Filled

• Healthy appetite

• Righteousness is behavior!

• Evidence of the fullness of Jesus in your life is your behavior

• Behavior is not the cause of fullness but the expression of it.

• This appetite is a sign of direction NOT perfection

• Those with this appetite WILL BE FILLED

• Jesus is our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:28-30)

•Happy...merciful - Will be shown mercy

• How is Righteousness expressed - one way is in mercy

• Notice the condition (To receive, you must give)

• This is as far from selfish as you can get

• The Christian life is about OTHERS! (Rom. 12 & Phil. 2)

• Matt. 6:12 - Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors

• Col. 3:13 - Forgive each other (WHY?) as the Lord forgave you

• Matt. 16:25 - To receive life you must first lose it

•Happy...pure in heart - Will see God

•Pure = Katharos = unmixed

•Again, this is not perfection but a single-mindedness towards God

•Paul = “this one thing I do...” Phil. 3:13-14

• It’s Jesus in me (Gal. 1:16)

•Psalmist “give me an undivided heart...” Ps. 86:11

•A divided heart will be conquered

•Those whose hearts are set on God will recognize Him in this physical

• ...also see Him in the circumstances - Rom. 8:28 (I will not fear)

•Happy...peacemakers - Will be called sons of God

•Where is the un-peaceful problem?

• James 4:1 - “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”

• The greatest need in everyone can only be met by reconciliation with God through the blood of Jesus

• Rom. 5:1 - “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”

• As we share in the ministry of The Son of God, peace is brought!

• Col. 1:20 - “...and through him [Jesus] to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

• Eph. 2:14-17 - “For he himself is our peace...” (vs. 14)

•Happy...persecuted because of righteousness - Kingdom of Heaven

•2 Tim. 3:12 - “IIn fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted...”

• How?

• Insult = to your face

• Perhaps physical - vs. 39 (other cheek)

• Falsely speak = behind your back

• Don’t react and get mad BUT “rejoice and be glad”!

•Why “Rejoice and be glad”?

•1 Peter 1:3-7 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.”