Finding True Joy | Matthew 5:1-16

May 3, 2014

INTRODUCTION

Man has always been in the pursuit of happiness and blessedness. He does everything that he can to get “joy and happiness.” What gives us true happiness? Can the world and the things of the world give us true happiness? What are true blessedness, satisfaction, and joy in life? Well, today, I want to speak to you about the key to true happiness and blessedness.

Finding True Joy

What are true happiness and blessedness?

How can one receive true happiness and blessedness?

Open your Bibles to Matthew 5. This passage is known as the sermon on the mount. This is the first recorded message of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 5:1-16 ¹Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ²and he began to teach them.

The Beatitudes

He said: ³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ⁷Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. ⁸Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ⁹Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. ¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Salt and Light

¹³“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. ¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

This is the first recorded sermon of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this passage, Jesus gives us the secret to true happiness and blessedness. If you’ll notice in verse 1 and following, you’ll see the word “blessed” used 9 times. The word simply means “happiness” or “happy.” Then Jesus says, rejoice and be glad when people persecute you and accuse you. God is in the business of making our lives full of joy, full of gladness, and full of happiness.

God Is Called Blessed

Psalm 119:12 Blessed art thou, O Lord.

1 Timothy 1:11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

Christ Is Called Blessed

1 Timothy 6:15 God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

If true happiness and blessedness are true of God and it is true of Christ, then the only people who will ever experience happiness are those who partake of God and partake of Christ.

Psalm 144:15 blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.

KJV happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.

1 Peter 2:2-4 ²Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. ³His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Only as we partake of the very nature of God can we be blessed, and can we know this happiness. It doesn’t belong to anyone outside those who know God. So Jesus came offering a new standard of living. And his emphasis was not on externals, it was on internals. Here is the key to happiness and blessedness.

Happiness is found in the kingdom of God established by our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Biblical Context Of The Kingdom

See the very last message of the Old Testament.

Malachi 4:6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.

The Old Testament ends with a curse. The New Testament begins with a blessing.

The first words of Jesus Christ, “Blessed.”

New Testament meaning of “blessed.” It means inner peace, inner bliss, inner happiness, and inward joy that is not produced by circumstance nor is it affected by circumstance.

The Old Testament is the book of Adam, and Adam and his story are the stories of the Old Testament. It’s kind of a sad story. The first king in the earth was Adam and it was said by God to Adam that he had dominion over the earth. He fell and since he fell the Old Testament had to end with a curse. But in the New Testament, there’s a new king and that’s why Matthew starts the New Testament because he is the one who presents the King.

The King is immediately presented. The last Adam, the second Adam, the greater than Adam, and He is a King who does not fall. The first king fell and left a curse. The second King reigns and leaves a blessing.

The Religious Context Of The Kingdom

Jesus was confronting a very religious society. There were four main groups within the religion of Judaism: The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the Zealots. God had given them the law through Moses. To keep the law and the promises of the law, these group had developed their own traditions and practices of the law which they thought would give them happiness.

The Pharisees believed that happiness was found in tradition or legalism.

The Sadducees believed that happiness was found in the present, modernism, and liberalism.

Essenes believed that happiness is in separation from the world.

Zealots said happiness is found in the political overthrow. Happiness is found in revolution.

Therefore, the burden of traditions had been put on the law by the Pharisees and that is what Jesus is talking about, against the Pharisees and scribes as they were burdening people with their traditions.

Pharisees were saying, “Go back.” And the Sadducees were saying, “Go ahead.” The Essenes were saying, “Go out.” And the Zealots were saying, “Go against.”

What he was saying is this, “My kingdom is inside.” Do you see? True happiness is inside when you receive the Kingdom of God. It’s inside. That’s the whole point. Therefore, that’s the whole message of Jesus to the world, That happiness is not based on your outside circumstances but rather true happiness is based on the Kingdom of God which can be received inside of us.

The Political Context Of The Kingdom

The people of Israel were expecting a political Messiah. They have seen the great kingdom of united Israel under king David. Then, they have seen how the kingdom of Israel fall and how the kings had committed sins. They have seen the rise and fall of the Greek kingdom, led by Alexander the great. Then they have seen the rise of the Roman Empire. Now they are expecting a kingdom of God, to rule from the throne of David.

Here comes Jesus inviting people to the kingdom of God. But this is a different kind of kingdom. Jesus is a different kind of king, Jesus was the servant king. This king came to die for his people. This kingdom has to be received inside of us.

The Context Of The Kingdom In The Gospel Of Matthew

Jesus came into this world as the King, the Messiah. We can find his genealogy in Matthew 1.

The Genealogy Of The King. Matthew 1:1-17
The Birth Of The King. Matthew 1:18-2:12
The Herald Of The King – John The Baptist. Matthew 3:1-12
The King Overcame Temptation. Matthew 4:1-11
The King Started His Ministry. Matthew 4:12

Jesus started his ministry when John the Baptist was put in prison. Matthew 4:12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee.

The King Made Disciples. Matthew 4:18-22

Jesus has 4 disciples by now. Matthew 4:18-19 ¹⁸As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

The King Begins To Proclaim.

Matthew 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Matthew 4:23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

The Place of Jesus’ Proclamation: Proclaiming in the synagogue. V.23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

The Message Of The King: Matthew 5-7. The Sermon On The Mount.

I came to bring true happiness into the world.

Therefore the path or the pattern to receive that blessing and to enter the kingdom is outlined for us in these incredible Beatitudes, Now as you look at the Beatitudes, you’ll see that they’re like sacred paradoxes and they’re almost given in absolute contrast to everything the world knows.

The First Step Is Entering The Kingdom Of God. Matthew 5:3-6

The Manifestation/Attitude Of The Kingdom Person. Matthew 5:7-9

How The World Treats A Kingdom Citizen. Matthew 5:10-11

Rewards Of The Kingdom Of God. Matthew 5:12

The Influence Of A Kingdom Person. Matthew 5:13-16

Who can enter the Kingdom of God? Matthew 5:3-6

³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Attitude Of A Kingdom Person: Matthew 5:7-9

⁷Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. ⁸Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ⁹Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

How The World Treats A Kingdom Citizen. Matthew 5:10-11

¹¹“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rewards Of The Kingdom Of God. Matthew 5:12

¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The Influence Of A Kingdom Person: You Are The Salt And Light. Matthew 5:13-16

Therefore, the entrance into the Kingdom of God starts with being poor in spirit, mourning, and being meek and hungering and thirsting for righteousness. It manifests itself in an attitude of mercy, purity, and peacemaking, and it causes the world to react to us with reviling and persecution and false accusation. But in the end, it transforms us (in verse 13) into salt and (verse 14 through 16) into light. This is the flow of the Beatitudes.

The first step in entering the kingdom, the first step to happiness, is being poor in spirit, realizing your spiritual poverty.
The second one is mourning over it.
The third one is humbly falling down before the glory of God in your condition.
The fourth one is then pleading for righteousness which you don’t have and hunger for.

Jesus begins by saying there’s a mountain you have to scale, there are heights you have to climb, but the first thing you must realize is that you are outside the kingdom of God and you can’t get there on your own. The mountain is too high, the heights are too great, you can’t do it. And you have to start with that realization. You cannot enter my kingdom, you cannot be happy until you realize your bankruptcy, your poverty.

This is the way to happiness and blessedness.

CONCLUSION

Are you looking for true joy and happiness? Jesus is inviting you to give you joy, blessedness, and happiness. The world cannot satisfy you. After receiving everything, king Solomon said, “It is vanity.” True satisfaction comes from knowing God and God alone. Altar Call. Receive Jesus Christ. If you are already a believer and you are going through difficulties, do not let your circumstances make you lose your joy. God wants you to grow in your spiritual maturity. Be merciful, be a peacemaker. God wants to influence you to be the light and salt of the earth.

Take Away Points

True happiness is found in Jesus.

City Harvest AG Church

Finding True Joy | Matthew 5:1-16