It's not like that some Christians are called to be poor in spirit and others are called to mourn. Others are called to be meek. No, these are attributes or qualities They're to be made manifest in every Christian's life. We are all called to be poor in spirit rather than being self-righteous. We are all called to mourn over our fallenness.
And we are all called. to manifest this meekness We began last week looking at what is perhaps the most well-known sermon ever preached. As you'll hear today, even Groucho Marx, the American comedian, could quote from it. But what does this sermon mean for you and me? What did the qualities Jesus spoke of look like in the life of a Christian believer?
Hello and welcome to the Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Lee Webb. Today's sermon is from the Beatitudes, and it's from R.C. Sproll's extended sermon series in the Gospel of Matthew. And these sermons form the basis for his expositional commentary on Matthew.
You can add this hardcover volume to your library when you give a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org before midnight tonight.
Well, we return now to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as we consider morning. meekness and righteousness. Here's Dr. Sprohl.
Now, we'll continue with our study of the Beatitudes as we find them in Matthew chapter 5. And I will be reading from verse 4 through verse 9. 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 For righteousness. for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers. For they shall be called Sons of Ga We begin this morning with the Beatitude. Blessed are those who mourn. For they shall be comforted. Most of the commentators who treat this text in the New Testament.
Look at the morning that is in view. As a particular type of mourning. And it is so specific. That it does not include a broader understanding of mourning. Just as the first Beatitude speaks of those who are poor.
that is qualified by the term those who are poor in spirit So Scholars assume that when Jesus speaks here of mourning, He's talking about those. who are mourning Over their sin. In broken contrition I think that element is present, and we will look at that briefly in a moment. I really think that the Application of this is broader. than a simple sorrow.
Before sin. I realize that there are many folks. in the world who mourn who, if they remain, alienated from God. will never receive the comfort That is promised here.
So we have to understand that the promise of comfort for those who mourn is not one that is healed. Universal. Nevertheless. The note of mourning was something that sounded a deep Discordant Note that In the lives of the Jewish people in the Old Testament. There's was often a difficult lot.
As they suffered oppression, from many nations. and poverty And disease abounded. And morning was so integral to their lives that the scriptures of old Made this observation. It is better. To go to the house of mourning.
than to spend your time with fools. Herman Melville. Once observed that until we understand that one grief outweighs a thousand joys We will never understand What Christianity is trying To make us. Our Lord was known as a man of sorrows. and he was acquainted Yeah.
Great. We know that the New Testament speaks frequently of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. who brings consolation and dries the tears of God's people. When we lose a loved one. We mourn.
But we mourn knowing. That that morning. We'll turn to joy and comfort On the day Of resurrection. And so, if we're going to qualify this at all, we're going to have to qualify it by saying, blessed. Are the godly?
Who mourn? For they shall be comforted. With respect to every Pain. That they experience In this world. The experience of comfort on a human level is a priceless experience.
I think I've told you before my boyhood memories of getting hurt Playing in the street. Or suffering insults from my friends, and I would have my feelings hurt, and in my wounds, I would come home. crying. coming through the back door and my mother would be working in the kitchen and she would have her apron around her waist and I remember her taking the edge of her apron And wiping away My tears I think of that every time. I read the promise of the book of Revelation that in heaven The Lord will wipe away all of our tears Once And for all.
As comforting as it was to feel the edge of my mother's apron on my cheek, I would cry again. But when the comfort that is promised here in this text is fully accomplished It will be an everlasting comfort. That will be the end. of all tears But finally there is that element. But morning Over Our sin.
In theology, We make an important distinction. between two types of repentance. There is that repentance that is called attrition. and the repentance of attrition May be defined as A repentance that is motivated. from a fear of punishment.
It is motivated by seeking a ticket. Out of hell. It's the kind of repentance your children express when their hands are caught in the cookie jar. And they say, please don't punish me, I won't do it again. That's different from authentic.
Repentance which is defined by what we call Contrition and real repentance of sin. Is something that is generated By a profound Sorrow. From the soul Where we are, as the Roman Catholic Prayer of Contrition indicates. Heartily.
Sorry. for our sins. And when Christ sees the righteous person, who is broken by the conviction of God the Holy Spirit who reveals to us our sins so that our pillows are wet with our weeping Then We know what true contrition is from which God promises His comfort. But those who acknowledge their sins and in a glib manner simply say to God Sorry about that. That would reflect the kind of repentance.
that Esau had which was not Real. But a truly godly person. Mourns not only the loss of his loved ones, the loss of his health. But mourns His sin Before God And so when our Lord said, Blessed are those who mourn. The blessing is not in the morning.
The blessing is in the comfort. We think again of the wonderful address. that was spoken by the prophet to the children of Israel, Where The Prophet declared, The word of God saying Comfort ye. Comfort ye my people. Thus saith the LORD, Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
And declare unto her. that her warfare is over. for she has received double For Oh. Her sins. That's the comfort.
that we expect to know. In part now. But in full At The final day The next of the Beatitudes. Is this blessed? Are the meat For they shall inherit The earth, when I was a boy, I Never missed the The regular television program.
called you bet your life Starring Groucho Marks. And Groucho would always uh interview people and If they said the magic word, the The bird would come down with the hundred dollars and They would win that prize, but one night they interviewed a fellow whose last name was Meek. And Groucho looked at him and he says, Oh, yes, he says, I understand that. You're going to be coming into some significant real estate. The man said, What do you mean?
And he says, Well, doesn't it say, Blessed are the meek, they will inherit the earth? And I said, How did Grotto Marx know that that was in the Bible. but here there is often great misunderstanding. of what is in view. We have a tendency to think of meatness.
As a synonym, For Weakness. We think of the meek. as being personified by Caspar Milketoast. It seems to describe somebody who lacks a backbone. Who has a vacancy of courage.
In his heart. But that is not at all. What is meant by the biblical Concept of the meek Meekness is frequently A quality manifested By people who are exceedingly strong. But do not use their strength. or their power.
To crush people. Or to lay them low. The Preeminent model of meekness in Old Testament times. was Moses. And yet from another perspective, we would see that that singularly great leader.
Of the Old Testament was one of the most powerful men In Human History. But with his strength. and with the power that God gave to him, He was always... Gentle. Still, there was one in the New Testament.
far stronger Then Moses Even Our Lord Himself And yet it was said of Jesus Let the bruised read. He wouldn't break And you just observe. How Jesus Dealt with the Pharisees and the scribes, it was ask no quarter. And give none. He responded to strength with strength.
But when he would find people who were lowly. who were broken. by their sin. such as the woman at the well. A woman caught in adultery.
Jesus ministered to these people. With Gentleness. Our Lord Himself was a paragon of meekness. And he is indeed Blessed Jesus. Make and mild.
But no one has ever really Mistaken Jesus For someone who was weak. or spineless. But the promise that is given to those who are meek is as Even Grouchomorx understood. that they would inherit The Earth. Think about that.
Your parents die, or your spouse dies, you go to see the attorney, the will is read. And you discover the contents of the estate that is left for you because You are an heir. And you may be excited to find out that The family home or the family farm will pass into your hands. But in terms of the vastness of this earth, Such parcels are small. In comparison.
But here the inheritance that is read At the reading of the will. is the whole Earth. And indeed. We are told That we are heirs of God. joined heirs with Christ, And all things in this world have been given to Jesus.
And he promises That the redemption that he brings is not simply for the Sins of people. But he comes to redeem a fallen planet. And at the present time. The whole creation groans together. Waiting.
Four. The redemption of the sons of God, and the promise again comes. That at the consummation of his kingdom. The Lord will usher in A new heaven And a new earth. And that Earth.
will be owned. By the meek. But don't you see the pattern here? That is not like that some Christians are called to be poor in spirit, and others are called to mourn. Others are called to be meek.
No, these are attributes or qualities They're to be made manifest in every Christian's life. We are all called to be poor in spirit rather than being self-righteous. We are all called to mourn over our fallenness And we're all called. to manifest this meekness because to us is promised The earth That we will inherit. The comfort that we will be given.
And the possession of the kingdom of God. And finally, this morning we look at verse 6. where Jesus pronounces His Blessing. and his benediction For those who hunger and thirst. Four.
Righteousness. You know, again, a lot of the commentators, when they look at this text, say that What Jesus has in mind here are Those believers Who are passionately searching for the imputation of the righteousness of Christ? By which we receive our standing before God. We don't have enough righteousness of our own to get us into heaven. Only those who are clothed with the righteousness of Christ will ever enter into his kingdom.
And certainly that is true, but I very much doubt if that's what Jesus had in mind here. Because even Though we are justified by faith and not by our works. We are justified unto works. We have been elected by God, and received His grace Unto righteousness. And even though our righteousness will never justify us, The fruit of our justification.
Is The Growing in real Righteousness. It says Luther gave the analogy. We were dead in our sins. God raised us from the dead. And he declared us well while we were still in sin.
And that's what justification by faith means. But not only did he give us that declaration. But he gave us the medicine by which we actually do. become conformed to the image of Jesus. And every Christian is called to grow up.
into maturity and in that conformity into righteousness.
Now, elsewhere in this gospel, we're going to be looking again at this quest for righteousness. but we have almost an allergy to it. Because we tend to link righteousness with self righteousness, that which the Pharisees displayed, rather than real righteousness. And what real righteousness is, simply, is doing what is right. And that should be a concern for us.
And not just a passing concern. The images that are used here. are images of hunger. And thirst. Remember, This message was given to people who for the most part lived In the desert.
Who knew what it meant? To have such a parched palate that their thirst was all consuming. that just one cup of cold water would dramatically improve their condition. It was also given to people. who knew what it meant to endure starvation.
to go hungry for long periods of time And a person who is in that state of hunger Just like the Person who's crossing the desert and runs out of water and prays every second for the appearance of an oasis. That's the pursuit of that oasis is the only thing that keeps him going.
So, the intensity of the thirst and the intensity of the hunger of that type of person. It's what Jesus says should mark Our lives. You think of Jonathan Edwards. It was a young man. Wrote down the resolutions for the virtues that he sought to achieve.
In his lifetime, And by the grace of God. this man became a model of righteousness. At almost the same time There was another man in colonial America who also sought after righteousness without the aid of God. His name was Benjamin Franklin. And you recall how that Franklin made a list of the virtues that he wanted to manifest in his life, and each day he would examine himself and check off the box to grade whether he had accomplished that righteousness.
for that past 24 hours. And he confesses That in the box that was marked humility. When he marked it so many days in a row He discovered that he was becoming Proud. of his humility.
So even the unregenerate understand at certain points Their failure. to achieve real righteousness. Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? To have on your tombstone. He or she.
Was a righteous. Person. We ought not to despise righteousness as something that belongs only to the self-righteous. But we should love righteousness enough to pursue it. Intensely As those who hunger and thirst because the promise of God is this.
If you hunger for righteousness. You will not be sent away. Empty. You will receive the bread of life. That will fade you.
For eternity. If you thirst for righteousness. The Son of righteousness will come. with living water. that will well up in your souls.
to eternal life. We will. B. Filled. Mm-hmm.
We will. Be satisfied. from these pursuits. That was R.C. Sproul on this Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind, preaching from Matthew chapter 5 and the Beatitudes.
If you found today's sermon helpful, you can study the Beatitudes at your own pace when you request a copy of Dr. Sproll's commentary on Matthew. simply visit Renewing Your Mind. org before midnight to night and give a donation in support of proclaiming the truth of God's Word, and we will send you the hardcover volume as our way of saying thank you. This commentary was drawn from R.
C. s. Sermon series in Matthew, so as you read it you'll detect his pastoral heart along with his theological precision. This offer ends in a few hours, so visit renewingyourmind.org or use the link in the podcast show notes. to request your hardcover copy.
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Well, next week we will continue in the Beatitudes with Blessed are the pure in heart. they shall see God. I hope you'll make plans to join us Sunday. 4. Renewing Your Mind.
