Stranger Things - Part B

Fifty-six times in the scripture, the words God and joy show up together, or the Lord and joy show up together. In other words, there is a direct correlation between your experience of joy and your relationship to God.

Listen to what Sean McDowell said about the book Tactics. Here's Skip Heitzig to comment on how Jesus spoke out for truth. We might think that Jesus never raised his voice, that he would never call anybody out. However, there was a side of Jesus that was contentious. The Jesus that took tables in the temple and overturned them and took out a whip and drove people out of the temple.

Yeah, that Jesus. Get equipped to defend the gospel and guard against false teachings with Fight for the House, a six-message series through the book of Jude with Skip Heitzig. This teaching series on CD is our thanks when you give to keep this Bible teaching ministry on the air. And when you give $35 or more today, we'll also send you a book by Gregory Kochel called Tactics, your game plan for communicating the truth about Christianity with confidence and grace.

To give, visit connectwithskip.com or call 800-922-1888. Okay, we're in Matthew chapter five as Skip Heitzig starts today's study. I believe that perhaps the greatest need of the church has always been and certainly is today a need to be taught the scripture.

In fact, I'll take it a step further. I honestly think most of the church has been preached to death. It's all about preaching in most churches. The preacher gets up and preaches at them. That is, it's exhortation and admonition and exclamation and agitation. Very little explanation.

And what does that do? It creates frustrated believers. I think you have churches filled with frustrated believers and they hear every week the exhortation, you need to love God more, you need to love your wife more, you need to obey God more, you need to do this more, you need to do that more. And all the while they're going, preacher, teacher, show me how.

Teach me how to do it. That's the shepherd's role. Ephesians tells us we are to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

Okay, so this brings up an issue. Here's the multitudes coming, following Jesus wherever he goes. Jesus takes his disciples away. Come on, guys, come over here. Sit down or stand up. I'm going to sit down. And he starts teaching them.

Why? I mean, when you have that big of a crowd and that much interest, why not give an altar call? Jesus, you got that many unbelievers for whatever reason, whether they're just curious or they they want free lunch or they're really interested, now is the time for you to challenge them to make a commitment. Why do you teach your disciples?

I'm so glad you asked that. I want to answer that. Turn with me to Matthew Chapter nine. Just go to four blocks right. Four chapters to the right. John Chapter nine. This is the answer to that question of the altar call and how evangelism takes place in the world.

Verse 35 Matthew Chapter nine. Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people reads just like what we just read. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep, having no shepherd.

Jesus heart broke. He saw the multitudes for whatever reason they were hanging around him. He knew they needed hope. They needed life.

They didn't need a free meal. They needed spiritual hope. So what does he do? He said to his disciples, okay, he sees the need, but instead of like, I'm going to address the need with a crowd, he tells his disciples, he's teaching his disciples. He said to his disciples, the harvest, speaking of the multitude is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest. Okay, now I'm guessing, just my guess, I'm guessing the disciples obey Jesus. At some point, maybe this was spoken to them on an afternoon or an evening and they went to their tent or home or on their bedroll, wherever they were, and I'm guessing they prayed. So I picture Peter, James and John, Lord, just like Jesus said, Father, we pray that you'd send laborers out into the harvest field, this multitude of people, send out laborers, Lord, raise up laborers.

Right? Then we get to the very next verse, chapter 10, verse 1, their prayer gets answered. When Jesus called his 12 disciples to him, he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out, to heal all kinds of sickness, all kinds of disease. Names of the 12 apostles are given. Look at verse 5. These 12 Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying, what's the solution to the multitude who has such heavy spiritual need?

Here's the answer. Train your disciples and send them out. So here's Peter, James and John, Lord, send out laborers into the harvest. Amen. And then Jesus said, boys, your prayers have been answered.

Go. So the solution is to pray for evangelists and then to practice evangelism. Be the ones that you pray for.

That's his solution. So that's really the answer to ultra calls. I do give ultra calls quite frequently, but I'm passing the baton on to you.

You have the privilege to go out and do your own ultra calls. Bringing people to the kingdom. So that's the strange emphasis. Let me give you a third strange thing about this sermon. There's a strange truthfulness.

He is focused on essentially one gigantic theme. I want you to see what it is. In verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 10, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 12, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.

And then now go back to chapter 4, since you already read it. Verse 23, at least. Look at chapter 4, verse 23. Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogue, preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

Now, I just want you to get this. One of the great themes of Jesus' whole ministry is this. The kingdom. The kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is among you. Preach the kingdom. And the sermon on the mount is the kingdom manifesto.

Now, here's what you've got to know. This is a strange kingdom. This is a kingdom that the crowds had never heard of before. They've never seen a kingdom like this. This is a kingdom without any armies. This is a kingdom with no weapons. This is a kingdom with no taxes.

Hallelujah. This is a kingdom that has no pomp, no ceremony, no castles, no pageantry. It's completely different than any kingdom they had heard of or seen. In fact, when Jesus stands before Pontius Pilate and Pontius Pilate says, So you are a king then? Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my subjects would rise up and would fight, but they won't because my kingdom is not of this world. So he's speaking about the great truth he is bringing is the kingdom of God, but it's very, very different. John Stott, who wrote, he's one of my favorite authors, he's now in heaven, but he wrote a commentary in this. He said, I could sum up the entire Sermon on the Mount with two words.

So if you're taking notes, write these two words down. Christian counterculture. That's the Sermon on the Mount. Christian counterculture. This is the kingdom, and the kingdom is completely contrary to the culture that is around us. It is counterculture, and says John Stott, the church ought to be the ultimate expression of that counterculture, not just another version of the world. Yeah, come on, come into our church.

We're sort of like you guys, only we use different words. Now, this is a completely different kingdom, completely different culture, radically different. And you can't go through the Sermon on the Mount without picking that up in literally every paragraph. Every paragraph. Things like this. You have heard that it was said, but I say unto you.

He uses that formula a lot. You have heard that people said this about that, but I say unto you. You've heard other things about the other things, but I say this. And he contrasts what they had heard from the religious world, from the world at large around them, and says, but you are different. In fact, in Matthew chapter 6, Sermon on the Mount, he says, therefore, do not be like them.

Don't take your cues from the world. That's kingdom people. We who are part of this strange kingdom are those who don't let the world or its standards or its values or its rock stars or its movie stars or its sports icons tell us how to think and live. We march to a different drumbeat of a different drummer. We're in a different kingdom. So Christianity is, or I should say ought to be, the ultimate counterculture. Sadly, however, our biggest danger is not standing out, it's fitting in.

And I say it's a danger because all of the messaging, all of the time, on all of the platforms are telling you to fit in, don't be different, think like us, be like us, go along with our narrative, be like we are, and because everybody likes to be liked, nobody likes to be unliked, everybody wants the popularity of the crowd, that kind of pressure makes it hard to go against that flow. But we're in a different kingdom. And so I call this a strange truthfulness.

It's a kingdom, but it's a very different kingdom. Which leads me to the fourth and final strange thing about this Sermon on the Mount, a strange happiness. Now what's the first word in verse three? What is that word?

Shout it out, go ahead. Blessed. And what's the first word of verse four? Yeah, and it goes that way nine times.

Nine times, blessed, blessed, blessed. It's a repeated word. And wouldn't you agree if ever there was a churchy sounding word, it's this word, blessed? You don't talk like that outside of biblical parlance. You don't say, this is a blessed loaf of bread at the grocery store.

You just don't, right? It's a word nobody gets. And I understand that some Christians like to use that word. You say, how are you doing? We always say good, but sometimes they don't like to say, they go, I'm blessed. That's okay. You can be blessed.

I'm glad you are. Just know that nobody knows what that is unless they're part of the kingdom, right? So it is a kingdom word. It is a kingdom declaration.

Now let me explain the word. The word blessed is the Greek word makarius, which means happy, happy. It could be translated, oh, how happy are those who?

And then the Beatitudes continue. It means happy, fortunate, blissful. It speaks of an inward contentedness. It speaks of the satisfaction of your soul. We sing the hymn, it is well with my soul. That sort of sums up the word blessed. The Amplified Bible translates it, blessed, happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous. You're thinking, what's so strange about that?

Here's what's so strange about that. Here's Jesus saying, let me describe happiness to you. But the description doesn't sound like happiness like we think about happiness.

Look at it. Verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are, oh, how happy are those who mourn.

Whale. Didn't sound like happiness. They shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

They will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, they will obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. These don't sound like a recipe for happiness. These sound like misery under another name. And here's the point, everything you thought you knew about what it means to be happy is challenged right here. Everything the world says will bring you deep satisfaction is contradicted right here. And most people have an idea of what it is to be happy.

Certainly, they wouldn't include any of these. Most people would say, if you say, well, what would make you happy? Well, if I only owned, fill in the blank, whatever it is, if I owned that, I'd be really happy. If I lived there or got to move there and lived there, I'd be happy. If only I could marry that guy, I'd be happy.

If only I wouldn't have married that guy, I'd be happy. Some idea of what it takes to make a person happy. And it changes geographically. An article that I found said, and I'm quoting Austrians, which is my background, Austrians say, health is the most important precondition for happiness. Those in Finland say it's kindness.

The Greeks opt for honesty. The Dutch say beauty in women and handsomeness in men make for happiness. The British claim a sense of humor is the indispensable requisite, sort of.

Sounds British. But the Italians, the Japanese, and the Americans agree that money is no guarantee of happiness, but that it sure helps. Get this, I read this the other day, two days ago. NBC News said, and I'm quoting, Americans are the unhappiest they've been in 50 years. There's a very interesting article.

It was post-pandemic or sort of on the edge of the pandemic. So, you know, we kind of understand that, that we've gone through a lot. The world has gone through a lot.

There's been economic issues that go along with that. But the article went on to say the reason people are more unhappy now than ever is at this time, even though they're coming out of it, they don't see things getting much better. So they're feeling trapped. They're feeling isolated.

They're feeling very hopeless. Well, I've got good news. God has a lot to say about happiness.

Do you know that? In fact, did you know God invented it? It was his idea. Happiness was his idea. It was God who created you with the central nervous system.

That was his plan. It's his idea. It was God who created pleasure receptors in your brain. It is God who put a limbic system in your body. It is God who came up with the idea of dopamine in the brain. All that's God. So that you can be pleasureful, happy.

He created you with that capacity. And get this, 56 times in the scripture, the words God and joy show up together. Or the Lord and joy show up together. In other words, there is a direct correlation between your experience of joy and your relationship to God. What's sad is so many people connect Christianity with something that takes joy out of life. When I told my friends that I had accepted Jesus and I was a Christian, so many of them said, I'm so sorry.

I'll never forget that. Two of them said, I'm so sorry. You're sorry? Why? Well, I mean, it doesn't sound like a happy life to me following Jesus. But I'm having the time of my life.

Now we're out of time and we can't get into all these obviously. So let me just make a few observations about these Beatitudes. First of all, they are proclamations.

It's not a surface emotion. Jesus is not declaring necessarily what people feel as much as what God thinks. Blessed, that's His proclamation. So they're proclamations. Another observation, they're paradoxical.

You want to be happy? Blessed are the poor, those who wail and mourn, those who are merciful, those who are insulted and get persecuted. I mean, that's such a paradoxical way of thinking. But if you're a Christ follower this morning and you've been in those places, you get it. You know that you can be completely independent of external circumstances, favorable circumstances, and be filled with a sense of joy and happiness that the world can't touch. So they're paradoxical. And then another observation is they're progressive.

That is, they begin and then they take you somewhere. So the first step in a relationship with God is that you are poor in spirit. That's how you get in the kingdom. The first step in the kingdom is to be poor in spirit.

What does that mean? Poor in spirit means I realize I'm poverty-stricken before God. I've got nothing. I can't earn my way.

I can't talk God into liking me. I am broke. I am poverty-stricken because I'm a sinner. And that leads me to have an opinion about what I just discovered, and that is I mourn over it. That's repentance. I realize I'm spiritually broke.

I mourn. And then as I do that, I come to that experience meek. Blessed are the meek. It leads me to a gentleness, a humility. Meekness is where I realize I'm small before a holy God. I'm inadequate before a holy God. By the way, meekness is not weakness. Meekness is power under control. And then what happens is I start hungering for a righteousness I know I need desperately, but I cannot produce on my own.

It has to be given to me. I hunger and thirst for that righteousness. And that righteousness is manifested in me being merciful, having a pure heart, and being a peacemaker. When I start living that way, people notice it. And when they notice it, I get persecuted.

Because I'm different than they are, and they don't like different. So I start getting insulted and start getting misjudged. And now, blessed, oh, how happy are the persecuted. So one leads to another.

They're progressive. So this is God's kingdom. And this is a strange kingdom.

This is an upside-down kingdom. The world says, happy are the rich. Blessed are the thin. Blessed are the tanned. Blessed are the powerful. Blessed are those who push others out of the way. Make a name for themselves. Jesus said, no, actually, poor, mourning, and these, persecuted, those are the blessed.

It's just completely different. The strangest thing is that you can be hated by the world and so full of joy. Look at verse 11. We just looked at it, but verse 11 and 12, we close. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Don't you hate when that happens?

I've had it happen a lot. Look at verse 12. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad.

Why? For great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Listen, you've got something coming up ahead and you are connected to those who went behind before. Prophets.

You're in good company. Jesus, all the prophets, all the godly men and women of history, they've all been hated and persecuted by the world. Welcome to church. So joy, joy is not the absence of trouble. Joy is the presence of Jesus. And joy is perhaps the most infallible sign of the presence of Jesus.

That wraps up Skip Heitzig's message from the series now streaming. Right now, we want to share about an exciting opportunity you have to take your knowledge of God's word even deeper. If you're ready to study God's word beyond going to church and personal Bible study, you're ready for Calvary College. Take your learning and your life's purpose to the next level with an education in biblical studies.

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