Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / The Sermon On The Mount
Raising The Bar By Using Crutches 05/06/07
Message: ‘Raising the bar by using crutches’ Text: Matt. 5:1-3
Introduction: Have you ever shared your faith in Jesus with someone and they told you…‘Christianity is a crutch for people who can’t make it on their own?’ When I get that from people I’ll often respond with ‘You’re absolutely right.’
And I add…Why is that a valid criticism of Christianity?
· People don’t usually look at a crutch and say ‘you shouldn’t use that.’
· People don’t think that crutches are a bad thing…because they help people, who need help.
· Why then, does a crutch become a bad thing when it’s Christianity?’
When someone says that Christianity is a crutch what they’re really saying is that Christianity is for the weak… and again ….I agree.
But that’s the rub isn’t it? We don’t like being thought of as weak, needy, helpless people. Believe me, I used these and I know the feeling. We don’t like seeing ourselves as cripples…again I am intimately aware of that feeling.
Why? Because we often find it goes against to our belief in self-sufficiency. So we feel the need to protect our pride when others label Christianity as a crutch. And friends… that’s the real problem.
I think we have forgotten what Jesus said in Mk. 2:17.
Read: Mark 2:17 ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous but sinners’
Background: Today, we begin a new sermon series on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The more I read Matthew chapters 5-7 the more I am both drawn to them and shamed by them.
· The bright light of truth attracts me like a moth to a flame, but the light of truth is so bright, that it burns.
When you read these words as Jesus meant them to be read, there is no room for going through the motions, there is no room for seeking to live by the minimum daily requirement of Christianity because Jesus is demanding radial obedience and life altering change.
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount reveals to us character traits that are marks of the Christian life…for everyone. We’ll examine the first of these marks this morning.
Transition: Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 5:1 (pg. 739 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you) Let’s see what it has to say to us this morning.
I. Blessed
Read: Matt. 5:1-3
One of the key words we need to address right out of the gate because it occurs over and over again. is the word ‘Blessed’ or perhaps your translations reads ‘Happy’
While ‘happy’ is a legitimate translation of the Greek word ‘Makarios,’ because of how we define happy as Americans, I don’t think it’s best to use it. Instead, I prefer the more common use of the Greek word, which is ‘approved.’
To be blessed by God is what we all seek…Christian or not. But often we seek blessing, like love, in all the wrong places. We act and live as if the approval of others is more important to us than approval from God.
Transition: Here in Matthew 5:1-12 Jesus is saying ‘Do you want to be blessed? Do you want to be approved by God? Then this is how you must live because those who do, are blessed.
II. Are the Poor in Spirit
Read: Matt. 5:3
I… don’t want to be poor. I want to be blessed.
I was poor when I was growing up:
· My mother gave birth to me in a free clinic
· When my moms paycheck ran out before the week did, we ate eggs for dinner.
· And when we didn’t even have eggs, we had to ask for get help from my relatives.
· To this day I have a problem eating eggs for dinner because of the feelings it brings of having to eat eggs for dinner when we were poor.
· To this day I have a problem asking for help.
Of course, Jesus isn’t talking about financial poverty here, but the feelings run just as deep.
If I were going to move the Communion Table, with everything still on it, I couldn’t do it alone, at least not without making a mess. If someone else were to take one end and I took the other, it would move very easily.
That’s the point Jesus is trying to make here.
· It’s OK to be dependant.
· In fact, it’s healthy to be dependant.
· Just before and after my knee surgery, I was dependant upon my crutches to get around. And that’s OK because that’s what they were made for.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, listen, it’s ok to be dependant on others, to ask for help. It’s more fulfilling to be a part of a loving community where you can feel safe asking for help, rather than go it alone.
I’m learning that in a physical way, but Jesus is talking about spiritual dependence, total dependence on God.
If I can paraphrase this verse it would go something like this ‘Blessed, are those who admit that they can’t do it all, for they are approved by God and will enter heaven.’
If you ask ‘Can I help you with that Pastor Bob?’ And I say ‘No thanks, I can do it on my own.’ Then I have essentially built a wall between you and I. And that’s exactly what we do with God when se think we don’t need his help.
I know….it’s hard to make an admission of helplessness, of dependence upon others. Instead we say ‘I’m in charge, I’m in control and I don’t need anyone else…I don’t need a crutch..’ We are saying when it comes to life, we’re self-sufficient.
But Jesus is saying when it comes to real life in the Kingdom of heaven it’s your dependency on me that will get you there. He says all that in the phrase ‘the poor is spirit. So what does Jesus mean when he says we must be ‘poor in spirit?’
· It means spiritual bankruptcy
· It means total depravity
· It means absolute helplessness
· And it means…all of us.
Read: Romans 3:10ff ‘There is no one who is righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless, there is on one who does good, not even one…and the way of peace they do not know.’
Everyone is spiritually broke. We have nothing that can earn us salvation and a place in heaven.
I want you to notice something.
· It’s one thing to be spiritually broke, totally depraved, absolutely helpless.
· It’s another thing all together to recognize that and those who do…Jesus says, are blessed, have God’s approval.
Why? Because it’s only when we realize that we’re totally without ability to save ourselves, to do anything worthy of going to heaven, that God can do a work in our hearts and bring us to faith in Jesus Christ.
Another try at the paraphrase. ‘Blessed are those who realize they have absolutely nothing to offer God and acknowledge their total dependence on him. For they are approved by God and will enter heaven.’
I don’t like to be poor. I don’t like to ask for help. Spiritually we have the same problem…we don’t like to depend upon God. It’s a slap in the face to our pride…to our belief that we are self-sufficient, that we only need God when the going gets really tough…otherwise, we’ll handle it ourselves.
What is the opposite of ‘poor in spirit’?
The answer is ‘proud in spirit’ and we all know how God feels about the proud.
Read: James 4:6b ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’
God opposes the proud…God stands against the proud. Is that what you want? Or do you want to be blessed, approved by God? Christian…that means you too.
· You can miss out on God’s blessing because of your spiritual pride,
· You can miss out on God’s blessing because of your belief that you can get by on the minimum daily requirement of being a Christian.
· You can miss out on God’s blessing because of believing you can do it, whatever it is, without Jesus… this time.
I’m a cripple, physically because of my knee, spiritually because of my sin and in both situations, I need a crutch…one of these and Jesus Christ.
Don’t be ashamed to be dependant upon God… he blesses those who are.
Transition: One last thing.
III. For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven
Read: Matt. 5:3
A little Greek grammar. Matthew 5:1-12 is considered an ‘inclusio.’ Notice that the first beatitude and the last beatitude both have the same reward…the kingdom of heaven. This was done to make an important point. Everything between vs 3 and vs 12 are related to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus is giving assurances of the promised blessings of heaven…to be experienced now on earth by those who are radically obedient and are wiling to accept life altering change.
Jesus started with ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit;’ because if we don’t get this one right, the rest don’t matter. We must first recognize and accept that we are utterly dependant upon God, not only for eternal life in heaven, but to live, as Christians today.
Jesus is saying
· to receive his kingdom, we must give up our own.
· to receive his kingdom, we must give up our own.
Conclusion
The epitaph on the head stone of the great missionary William Carey reads:
· Born Aug. 17th 1761
· Died June 9th 1834
· A wretched, poor and helpless worm
· On thy kind arms I fall.
William Carey got it. This was his strength in life and in death. He cast himself, poor and helpless upon the kind and loving arms of Almighty God. He understood the promise of Jesus ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.’
There comes a time in everyone’s life when they need a friend.
· That’s the time, according to this first beatitude, when we are most blessed.
· That’s the time when we realize we can’t make it on our own.
· That’s the time when we accept that we are nothing without God.
And that friend… is Jesus. Without shame, let him be your crutch.