Digging Into the Beatitudes Part II

by Brandon Byler

The health, wealth, prosperity “gospel” has done much damage to our country. Unfortunately, when you talk to someone on the streets of America who knows little about Jesus and His gospel, they message they think belongs to Jesus is the poisonous message that God wants you happy, healthy, and wealthy. The beatitudes do teach us that God would have us happy, but they teach a happiness that is rooted in holiness. Physical health is temporary, but spiritual maturity accomplishes much more than physical health ever could. There is wealth available to us that has nothing to do with money.

The gospel that saves destroys the false notion that God is primarily concerned with our physical needs and wants. Rather, God desires our happiness to be founded upon His Word. His concern is not our comfort but our righteous character. He would have us wealthy in heaven than wealthy on earth and earn eternal judgment. Let’s continue walking through the beatitudes to see the many blessings that wait for us when obey the will of our gracious God.

Blessed are Those who Hunger For Righteousness (Matthew 5:6)

Jesus uses a metaphor to communicate the importance of pursuing a holy life. The word hunger means to feel something deeply that it is presented as a need. Therefore, what Jesus is communicating is that members of the kingdom of heaven see holiness as a need, not something that only the deeply dedicated will do. This is a need for all people of the kingdom.

The idea is that members of the kingdom of God are going to pursue a holy life with the same intensity in their spiritual life that they pursue food and water in their physical life. This flies in the face of the brand of Christianity that is nothing more than an add-on to what we do. Rather, Christianity is the substance and everything else is interpreted through what Christ demands.

I believe one of the reasons people don’t desire a holy life is because it is difficult to pursue and attain. However, Jesus delivers a promise in this verse. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. It is not they may be filled, but they will be filled. Here is where an understanding of the Greek language is a benefit. The phrase, “they shall be filled” is in the divine passive tense. That means that our being filled is not dependent upon us but upon God.

There are many people who believe their salvation is dependent on them. What a crushing weight! To hear that our holiness is dependent upon God and not ourselves is not soul-crushing but life-giving! This should motivate every Christian to hunger and thirst for righteousness in such a way that it dwarfs our other desires. When we are desiring righteousness, when we see it as a need as important as food and water, God will fill us.

Blessed are the merciful (Matthew 5:7)

Blessed are the merciful speaks of the people who show compassion and offer forgiveness towards those who have offended them. This is another beatitude that carries a convicting note. We are expected to be compassionate and to forgive one another. This is hard to do. It is rarely something we want to do, especially in our flesh. However, this is commanded clearly in Ephesians 4:31-32.

The promise is given that those who are merciful shall obtain mercy. Here is the tough truth about being a sinner—you are going to sin. That sin is not in hypothetical situations. It is in real places with real people and it creates real problems. When we sin, we are the ones in need of compassion and forgiveness. It is easy to deny compassion and forgiveness when the shoe is on the other foot. However, when we recognize our words cut deeper than any knife, our good intentions weren’t all that good, our selfishness showed its ugly head again, we need to be forgiven, we need compassion. This is what is needed from us when people sin against us. Let us never lose sight of this!

Let us also never lose sight of the fact that we are not better than anyone else. We are all in the category of sinner. There is an illustration I once heard Todd Friel give on his Wretched Radio podcast. He compared two sinners thinking they are better than the other to two turkey buzzards having a beauty pageant. If you’ve seen turkey buzzards, you get the point. What does the turkey buzzard who won get? He’s still a turkey buzzard! It’s the same with sinners. What is the purpose of attempting to win the “beauty pageant” of sinners? We’re still a sinner! We still, on our own, cannot do anything to earn our salvation. We are completely dependent upon the compassion of God for forgiveness. When we withhold forgiveness, we are in dangerous water. The command in Ephesians 4:32 is to forgive one another just as God in Christ forgave you. He forgave us from a point of never offending anyone in a sinful way. If He is willing to forgive us, we must be willing to forgive others. I remind myself often that no one has offended me more than I have offended Jesus, and yet He still forgave me. What a thought! What a Savior!

Blessed are the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8)

The pure in heart are those who are pure in reference to their heart. I believe this purposefully paired with the merciful, for the pure in heart are those who have been forgiven. This is something we need to think on deeply. Growing up, I was cautioned against saying anything negative about anyone who had ever prayed a prayer to receive Jesus as Savior. There was a time when I brought a friend to church with me, he was led in a prayer to receive Jesus, and for a few weeks he seemed like he had changed. But that’s how long it lasted—a few weeks.

I went and talked to the man who had led him (along with a few others) in that prayer and expressed my concern. I was quickly rebuked and told that I was not to doubt his sincerity. I think back on that now and I believe that man was trying to be godly and helpful. I don’t think of him as some heretic or anything like that. I believe he was misguided and unhelpful. I was the one who was spending 5-6 days a week with this young man, and I knew what I was seeing—it wasn’t righteousness, and it certainly wasn’t being hungered for.

What Jesus is after here is a man who is forgiven. The pure in heart are those whose sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus. They are the ones who will see God because they are not standing in their own works but in the perfect work of Jesus Christ. Only this person will see God in His glory in heaven. Therefore, it matters how you live. Letting someone believe they are going to heaven when they are going to hell is cruel. Speak up in love. If you are hated for it, just wait for verse 10.

Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9)

Peacemakers are those who attempt to bring peace between two opposing parties. Christians are people who love peace. It’s not just because we don’t like conflict, but it’s more fundamentally about our relationship with God. We know what it’s like to be ostracized from God, and we know what it’s like to be at peace with Him. Why wouldn’t we want that for others? The obvious answer is that we too often forget what it was like to be separated from God. However, as we remind ourselves what it is like to be in union with Christ, it should motivate us to help others—especially Christians—experience the glorious peace that is available to us because of Christ.

Of all the beatitudes, this may be the one that carries the awe for me. It’s not that it is especially deep or that it has some hidden meaning. Rather, it’s more about what Jesus says is true about those who desire peace between others and God. Again, the phrase “shall be called sons of God” is in the divine passive. It is God who calls us sons of God. Therefore, the character trait of being a peacemaker is one that God highly values.

Think on this for a moment. Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to make peace between God and man. Therefore, anyone who seeks to follow after His pattern in making peace is doing what God is pleased with. Certainly, we cannot achieve the kind of peace that Jesus did. He is in a position all by Himself with that. However, we can do His commands, and one of those commands is to live in peace with others (Romans 12:18; 14:19; 1 Corinthians 7:15; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 4:3). It is important to God that His people are peaceable.

When we are pursuing peace with others, we are living like Jesus. Even when He confronted the Pharisees, Jesus was acting in love. He called out their sin that they would repent and have peace with God. I understand the discomfort that can accompany confrontation. In my flesh, I am a non-confrontational person. I have had to learn to get over that to be of service to the Lord and the church. Confrontation is a tool to bring two parties together. I pray you can see this and follow in the path of our Lord, the Son of God as we live as those called sons of God.

Blessed are the Persecuted (Matthew 5:10-12)

If there is any verse in the New Testament that takes American Christian culture task, it is Matthew 5:10. We have done a disservice to those around us by taking Christianity and making it a commodity. It is not that which enables us to endure difficulty and persecution, it is that which prevents difficulty and persecution. While it is true that a person who obeys God’s law has an easier life than the wicked, this earth is still not our home; we are going to have trouble while we wait for Jesus to return. Take a moment and read Proverbs 13:15. The way of the wicked is pictured as a man swimming upstream of God’s will. Yes, there are times righteous men (such as Job) suffer, the truism put forth in the Proverbs is that a man that honors the Lord is going to have an easier life than those who openly rebel against Him.

However, sometimes these open rebels turn their sights on God’s people. Let’s look at what Jesus says in this verse. There is persecution, and it can lead to death. Being a student of church history, the men we remember are those who often gave their lives for Jesus in death. I am amazed at how joyfully they went to the lions, the stake, the executioner’s block. How is it that they could do this?

They were right with God, and they were persecuted for righteousness as God defines it, not just some righteous cause. This verse reminds us we need to have the right understanding of persecution. Persecution is any animosity or retaliation against that which God has commanded, designed, or loves. When we proclaim the truth of God’s Word to those around us and they revile us, we are to count ourselves blessed.

Sometimes we see persecution as that which happened to the apostles or the English reformers. Our brothers and sisters in Nigeria are going through horrific persecution in which they are being hunted down and killed, families at a time (why is no news outlook talking about this?!). That is persecution as we tend to think of it. However, so is the mockery at work for your faith. So is being removed from your parent’s estate because you bow the knee to Christ and no one else. Persecution comes in many forms, not just violence. I have talked to men who have been passed over for promotions because of their faith. It may not be “provable”, but both parties knew exactly the reason they weren’t rewarded for their labors.

We have a great cloud of witnesses before us that we can look to and learn from. We have a Savior who was persecuted and put to death, not because He erred but because sinners hated Him and His message. Our suffering is not without purpose, nor is it without reward. We need to be careful in going out and looking for persecution, but neither should we run from it. When God calls you to go and be faithful, we need to be willing to take the heat that comes with the calling. When the heat comes, stand firm, for you will inherit the kingdom of heaven, a just reward.

As I close this short study, I encourage you to again read the Sermon on the Mount and see if you can find how Jesus applies each of the latter beatitudes. Another exercise you can take is to read the epistle of James. Many commentators believe his epistles is an application of the Sermon on the Mount, but especially on the beatitudes.

I encourage you to pray for boldness to suffer for Jesus. I am encouraged by what I am seeing in the young men in our church, even in the country. What will happen, though, when they face persecution that is sure to come? Will they stay the course? Will they consider themselves blessed? Or will they consider the cost as too high?

Finally, pray that God would mature you in each of the beatitudes that you would be happy in all the right ways in your life. He will answer the prayers that come from a desire to see His will done in our lives.

The beatitudes are a powerful call to live the Christian life with eternity in view. Jesus is coming back, you will stand before Him one day, and you will answer for your life. May we be found to be poor in spirit, mourning over our sin, meek, hungering for holiness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers and faithful in persecution. He will bring the proper reward as we strive to please Him, and it will be “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).