Blessed are the …

There’s some wonderful sermons (( From Grace to You Ministries, John MacArthur, To hear all to these sermons, go here )) that are digging into the teachings of Christ, as recorded in Matthew, chapter five.  

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

– Matthew, chapter five, verses two through twelve, ESV

I must admit, I never gave much thought to these teachings when I was growing up. In fact, it wasn’t until a few years ago that I started to consider just how rich these teachings are. At first glance, it might seem easy to put them aside – they seem so simple, and perhaps even a little ambiguous. But, what a gross misconception. What a tragedy it would be to not understand these gracious revelations from our Creator. It is in these teachings that Christ is describing the citizens of the Kingdom of God. This kingdom is not of this earth; it’s a kingdom that’s being built by God in the hearts of men who recognize who the King of Glory is. It’s a kingdom that’s being made of people that have been transformed from the inside out – everyone in this kingdom has had undergone major spiritual heart surgery – starting with the way they think about God, the way they think about themselves in relation to God, and the way they respond to God’s greatest revelation of Himself in the form of Jesus Christ, His Son.

I used to think that these teachings were talking about selected special people – that will receive selected special rewards for characteristics of their developed lifestyle. But, now I am being challenged to understand that these declarations are internal radical spiritual transformations taken by all Christians. As one person put it, the Beatitudes are not talking people who “do” … the Beatitudes are talking about people who “are”. You can’t do anything to become one of these blessed people, but, these people exist because they have been transformed by God, and boy are they blessed! It’s reminiscent of the verse in Psalms, “Blessed is the man to whom the LORD will not impute iniquity against him” (Ps 32:2).