Follow along there if you'd like. As we
are beginning a a new series today that's
gonna take us over the next 8 weeks
or so.
From Matthew chapter 5.
Well, it was in 20 10 that a
multi millionaire from
New Mexico had an idea.
Was an idea that he hoped would see
America turn off the televisions a bit more
tune out of the video games a bit
more and go on an adventure. So this
gentleman forest fern, or fan, excuse me. Forrest
Fan is a Vietnam vet run, a pilot
and he became a a an art dealer
that he made a fortune in in art
dealing, and he had a bronze treasure chest
that he had created.
Somewhere in the Rocky Mountains
in early 20 10.
The chest was filled with gold coins and
diamonds and Emerald in jewelry and other valuables,
worth a small fortune.
Now, mister Fan encoded the secret
to finding the treasure
within a 6 stands a poem at the
end of his auto
entitled the thrill of the chase.
And thousands of people went off looking for
this hidden treasure
using that poem with its 9 embedded clues.
Thousands of people. Look.
Thousands failed. In fact,
many
underestimated the dangers of the wilderness of the
rock Mountains and had difficulty along the way.
And at least 5 people even died while
searching for this hidden treasure.
That was not until July of 20 21,
11 years later,
that a 32 year old medical student from
Michigan finally
found the treasure
in the Wyoming wilderness.
And then mister Forrest fan,
He died just 2 months later in September
of 20 21 at the age of 90
years old.
An auction of some of the selected items
from that treasure chest took place in December
of 20 22,
and it resulted in sales of more than
1300000.0
dollars.
Now in his auto,
mister Fan writes this. He says, the most
valuable things.
The most beautiful things are not easily found.
They're just out there.
They're hidden. He says.
And you've got to search for them. You've
got to get out seek, look for the
valuable
things
of this life.
And folks, he wasn't writing about diamonds and
gold coins.
Well, today, we're beginning a a new series
of messages We're calling this series, the life
that flourish.
And over the next 8 weeks, we're gonna
explore the
introduction
to the most famous
Sermon ever preached.
The sermon of Jesus
called the Sermon on the mount. It's recorded
in Matthew chapter 5
6 and 7.
Our focus is just gonna be on the
first 12 verses
of Jesus sermon section that is often known
as the beat attitudes.
We're gonna go on, I guess you could
say a bit of a treasure hunt together,
and it's my hope that
for... We will discover together what a rich
rich treasure is provided
by Jesus himself, a secret treasure.
That reveals the truth of the kingdom of
heaven. And like any treasure,
we will all have to look for it
seek after it, pursue it. In fact, later
in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus speaks a
couple of parable
using the analogy of hidden treasure
to illustrate the truth of his kingdom, Listen
to these words from Matthew chapter 13. The
words of Jesus He says, the kingdom of
heaven is like treasure hidden in a field,
which a man found and covered up And
then in his joy, he goes and sells
all that he has and buys that field.
Again, Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven is
like a merchant
in search of fine pearls who on finding
1 pearl of great value
went and sold all that he had
and bought it.
So let's begin this treasure hunt together. We're
gonna read from Matthew 5. And by the
way, we're gonna read this entire passage
over the next 8 weeks, several
different times from several different
versions, English versions of the new testament,
though we are only going to explore 1
small portion of it each week. And by
doing so, it's my hope that we will
be firmly
placing in our minds, the treasure map
that Jesus provides for us to discover the
reality
of his kingdom. So let's read Matthew 5
verses 1 through 12 together. The words are
on the screen.
Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the
mountain and when he sat down, his disciples
came to him. And he opened his mouth
and taught them saying,
Blessed are the poor and 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 mer for they shall receive
mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart for they
shall see God.
Blessed are the peace
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 rev revive you
and per 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.
Amen. The words of Jesus.
So
we call this section the beat.
And today, we're gonna be exploring the very
first statement in verse 3. We're calling today's
message, less
is more. Less is more, But before we
get into that part, I wanna do just
a bit of background on this whole section
of the sermon under the mouth that we
call the beat attitudes. Now we might think
of this as 8 clues
that Jesus gives us to find to discover
the treasure of kingdom life. To find what
it really means
to live life as citizens of God's kingdom,
which we partially enter when we come to
Christ when we're born again, but we
will not fully enter the kingdom
until Jesus comes again. And so these clues
that Jesus
gives us in this sex of scripture, help
reveal
the real life, the full life, the kingdom
life
that God has for us beginning now
and stretching into
eternity.
Now, Here's an important piece of information to
know as we dive into this section. Jesus
was a rabbi.
That word and hebrew literally just means teacher.
He was a hebrew
religious teacher. And every rabbi had disciples.
That word means followers,
learning, doing followers. They listen to their rabbi.
They breathed in his teachings, and then they
copied or followed
those instructions.
Now in those days, in the first century,
every rabbi had their own unique
interpretation, a different
application of god's word. And so a certain
rabbi would study God's word and he would
say then here's how I interpret it.
And therefore, here's how you should live it
out.
Then followers
of those rabbi would determine who they would
follow based upon that rabbi
interpretations an app location of God's word.
Now it's interesting to me what a rabbi,
interpretation and application was called.
It was called the yoke of the rabbi.
If you're familiar with that term, A yoke
is a wooden harness that is put over
the the neck of an animal or 2
animals
like oxen,
and this yolk guides and directs the animals
in the way that they should go.
And so a rabbi would say, here's my
yoke. Here's my understanding. Here's my
application of the holy scriptures. And then the
follower was would say, okay?
I'm gonna put that on. And that's what
I'm gonna use to direct to guide my
life.
And so friends, I tell you that because
that is exactly
what Jesus is doing for us in the
sermon on the mount. And particularly
in this opening section of the beat attitudes.
He's saying, okay. People of God. People seeking
God. Here is my yoke.
Here is my teaching. Here is my
application of the word of god. Here is
what should really
guide and direct your life
because I'm no ordinary
rabbi.
I am the sun
of God.
And 1 thing that is just blatantly
obvious right away is that Jesus yoke is
very much different from what these people who
are listening to him initially have ever heard
before. In fact, it's gonna be counter
to them. It's gonna be the opposite
of what people would expect. And opposite things
can be very
disconcerting at first, Can't they? For instance. Do
you remember when you first learned how to
drive?
And then at some point, after you got
the the driving part down pretty good, you
had to drive in
reverse.
Right?
And
maybe some of us are still learning to
do that part. Right?
It can be difficult
to drive to learn to drive and reverse
because it is counter
intuitive.
Right? You have to do the opposite
of what feels right. And so, yeah, you
turn around
and you look over your shoulder,
or if you got a newer car now,
you got a little screen there and you're
trying to watch that thing,
and it's counter
intuitive.
And that word
it it just means not easily
understood in an instinct,
unconscious way.
On the surface, it doesn't seem to make
sense.
But it works.
It works. And friends, this is the hidden
nature of the teaching of Jesus Christ.
So much of it is counter.
It doesn't always seem to make sense, but
it is, in fact, what works.
It is the yoke that leads to real
life.
Even though it seems at times
to be the opposite
and the upside down
of what we might think is the right
way.
And so Jesus begins this sermon on the
mount with this
introduction of the beat attitudes, and each beat
attitude
begins with the word blessed or blessed.
And so Jesus says to the crowd, do
you want to be blessed?
And the folks listening to this new exciting
rabbi say, yeah. We want some of that
blessing, man. Bring it.
We wanna be happy.
And then Jesus says,
blessed
are the
and then he gives 8 distinct characteristics
of a life that is blessed.
The kingdom life of a disciple.
A learning,
doing follower of Jesus.
To live this blessed life to put on
his yoke
to walk in this direction to think like
this, act like this, believe this truth, follow
my example.
Says Jesus.
That is blessed. And then finally, before we
get into today's attitude, I wanted define just
a couple of words a little further. The
words of Jesus seen in our passage today
I've already mentioned, we call them the beat
attitudes.
Now you might think that it means, oh,
be beautiful
attitudes. Right? But that's not what it means.
That has a catchy ring. That's kinda cool,
but that's not what it means. The beat
are blessed sayings.
Blessed sayings, The word be attitude, it it
comes from a Latin word be,
meaning, blessed ness.
The phrase bless said are seen in each
of Jesus statements
implies a current
state of being.
It's not something off in the future.
Strange and far off. It's right now.
And this expression held a powerful meaning for
these first century
listeners of Jesus.
Blessed
refer to divine joy
and perfect or complete happiness.
That's what they heard when Jesus said that
word blessed. In other words, Jesus was saying
divine happy and fortunate.
Are those who possess
these
inward qualities
that we're going to look at?
The word seen in our passage for blessed
in the Greek language, the language of Jesus
day
means
super happy.
Super happy. Blessed this in the new testament
is infinitely higher and better than just mere
happiness.
Okay?
Comment William Barclay writes that in the Christian
faith, we have a divine and god like
joy.
And that the word blessed in this passage
describes that joy, which has its secret
within itself.
The... That joy which is serene
and untouchable
and self contained. That joy, which is
completely
independent
of the chances and changes
of this life.
I love that last statement.
Real joy is independent of the chances and
changes changes
of this life.
And so we we encounter this word blessed
in our passage. We're gonna understand that, it
means joyful, but that joy
is based on the right attitude,
a proper
inward thought pattern and not merely on current
outward
circumstances.
Right? We say, oh I'm happy because it's
a good sunny day or I'm down because
it's raining.
I'm happy because my bank account is full
or I'm bummed because it's over drawn.
See, our happiness is like a roller coaster.
But Jesus says happiness, his blessed,
his joy is not based on circumstances
on what's going on around us. And this
is important because as we've already mentioned, everything
that Jesus is about to say is almost
completely opposite
of what his listeners and what we
reading this 2000 years later have been taught
to believe
and understand. And so over the next week,
8 weeks you're gonna hear some things that
are just opposite
perhaps what you've believed or understood your entire
life.
Or maybe all the people around you going
in this direction, and these things are gonna
say, go in this direction. You're like, whoa.
What?
That's what Jesus
is talking about here.
Alright. That's the background for this whole section.
So now we're gonna get to the very
first be from versus
2, and 3. I'll read it again. Jesus
opened his mouth
and taught them saying,
blessed are the poor in spirit
for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
And so here, Jesus says that it when
it comes to the
spiritual realm, the kingdom life,
it is better to have less
than more.
In the economy of the kingdom of heaven,
less is more.
Now to most of us who have lived
our lives in prosperity,
This is strange math,
and it was pretty strange math in Jesus
day as well.
These words are a as astonishing
today as they were when Jesus first spoke
them. And so let's consider some principles.
Of this super happy
joyful
kingdom math. And first, I want us to
see this. First, in the kingdom of heaven,
less
is more
when we are compelled to see our need
to see our need. At the outset of
this sermon, Jesus kinda sends us reeling with
his opening statement, blessed are the poor.
What?
Blessed are the poor. Jesus links to seemingly
incompatible things. Poverty,
and blessing.
Now,
I suppose many of us have heard some
version of this passage or a sermon on
this passage before And so perhaps the shock
has worn off for us if it ever
registered in the first place.
We actually think
that what Jesus says here is kinda kinda
sweet,
but make no mistake about it. What Jesus
says here would have been
completely dis disoriented
to those people who were listening to him.
It's as if with a word.
He has suddenly turned the laws that govern
the universe
on their head
And in a way,
that's exactly what he did.
1 of Jesus goals in this sermon is
to contrast
the governing
principles of this world as we know it
with those of the kingdom of God.
So for a minute, I want you to
try and hear these words,
the way that Jesus
original audience
would have heard them.
So how would this statement have sounded? Blessed
are the poor?
How would it have sounded to someone whose
only
possessions
were the clothes on their back?
Blessed are the poor?
What are you talking about, Jesus? What would
have meant to that single mother
who didn't have any idea where her child's
next meal was gonna come from?
How would those
words from Jesus sound comforting at all.
Blessed are the poor.
How would those words fall upon the ears
of a beg?
Who was dependent on the hand outs of
strangers every day for survival.
You know, it's amazing that Jesus wasn't laughed
off the mountain at that point
because the crowd that was listening to him
was predominantly
made up of poor people
like these that I just
illustrated.
But here's what's important to know folks. Jesus
wasn't just teaching some theory,
some vague
idea.
Jesus
didn't say this because he gone on a
field trip or write a book or take
it a poll about poverty.
Jesus
himself
lived in poverty.
You know, according to Matthew chapter 8, Jesus
told 1 would be follower, 1 would be
disciple. He said to the man, foxes
have holes.
Birds of the air have nests, but the
son of man has no place to lay
his head.
That's how poor Jesus was.
Jesus depended on the charity
of others. You ever thought about that.
Every meal.
Dependent upon the charity of others.
And when Jesus died,
the only
possessions he owned were literally the close on
his back.
That friends is why people didn't laugh Jesus
off the mountain.
In this sermon?
But what does Jesus really mean? Is he
saying that poor people are more receptive? To
the gospel than others.
Now, some people believe that, they even teach
that.
But I, I... I'm not convinced of that
idea.
I'm not at all certain that people who
are
financially poor are
necessarily
more open to the gospel will simply because
their poor.
My concern is that we
who are not poor,
by the way, you're not poor.
I want you to understand that. If you
can... If you turn on your water this
morning, you are not poor.
Do you realize
that millions of people in this world have
to walk miles every day
to get a bucket of dirty water.
We are not poor at all folks. We
have no idea of poverty.
And yet we at times can romantic
poverty
because of what Jesus says here. If the
poor have an advantage over the rich,
then why does the wise man in proverbs
30
say this?
Give me neither
poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise,
I may have too much
and dis you and say, who is the
Lord,
or I might become poor
and steal and so dish honor the name
of my god.
You see, the poor and the rich, each
have their own unique
temptation. 1 condition does not necessarily provide a
spiritual advantage over the other.
Some might be hardened by trouble.
Just as others are loa into a false
sense of security,
by their prosperity.
So poverty does not automatically make us more
open to god.
So what is the benefit of being poor?
Because Jesus clearly says, there's a blessing.
The term that is translated
into English as poor I think can help
us understand the point that Jesus is making
here.
It means
to cow
and cringe
like a beg.
Get that picture in your mind,
object poverty, cow
cri
like a beg.
In the new testament, it bears something of
this idea
because it denote a poverty so deep
that the person must obtain
his very existence
by begging.
He is fully
dependent
on the giving of others. He can't survive
without the help from the outside, and this
friends is the kind
of benefit that Jesus is talking about the
blessing
of poverty
is in the awareness
of our need.
Let me say that again. The blessing of
poverty
is in the awareness
of our need.
That's the first press principle to recognize that
when it comes to god and to his
grace, you cannot
survive
without help from the outside.
That's a core tenant of the gospel of
Jesus.
The great
composer, Johan Sub sebastian Ba.
Was once standing outside and inn in the
city of Luna.
He was a struggling
student at the time. And Ba had just
returned from a long trip. He was hungry,
but he was too poor
to even pay for a morse of bread.
Or for lodging,
which is why he was hanging around the
back door of the inn.
When someone threw a couple of fish heads
out the door in the trash heap,
and our friend Ba.
Decided to retrieve them.
As he examined them to see if there
was any part that was still edible
Can you imagine being that hungry?
Ba was surprised
to see a gl of gold
in the mouth
of each of those fish.
Perhaps
aware of the young
struggling composer need someone
had placed a gold coin.
In each fish had for him to find.
That interesting story.
And friends in a way,
this is exactly what Jesus has done for
you and for me.
When he says,
blessed are the poor.
He shines the light of his truth
on the trash heap of our life.
And suddenly,
we see a gl of gold.
What we thought was lost
proves to be gained.
What we counted as worthless,
Jesus says has great value.
And Jesus shows that shows us that where
the economy of the kingdom is concerned, less
is more
The blessing
that Christ offers is reserved for those
who need it.
And who recognize
that need.
But there's also an important and necessary outcome
to that truth.
Poverty is a blessing
Only if it prompts us
to respond,
just like Ba had to pick up those
heads
we have to respond
to god's offer
of grace. And this leads us to the
second important principle
of Jesus super happy joyful kingdom math.
In the kingdom of heaven,
less is more when we are prompted to
call
on Christ.
To call on Christ, and it's important to
note that this blessing is associated
with a particular kind of poverty.
You see, Jesus is, he's drawing an analogy
here, rather than making a statement about economics,
it it's not about poverty in general, but
spiritual poverty that Jesus has in view. In
verse 3, Jesus says blessed are the poor
in spirit.
And the addition of the second part of
phrase is the important
clarification.
In Luke chapter 18, Jesus tells the story
of of of 2 men 1 day that
went up to the temple to pray. 1
of the men was a a ph. He
was a respected,
wealthy
religious leader.
The other was a tax collector,
despise by his own people, a notorious sinner
And as Jesus saw these 2 man listen
to what he says. The ph stood up
and prayed about himself God, I thank you
that I am not like other men, Robbers
and evil doers and adult
or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week. I give a
tenth of all that I receive.
But the tax collector stood at a distance.
He would not even look up to heaven.
He beat his breast
and said,
God have mercy on me,
a sinner.
Jesus says that it was the tax collector.
Not the ph
who went home,
forgiven.
So here,
Jesus is not teaching the poor
to pray their own version of the ph
prayer. You know, say, oh, God, I thank
you that I'm not like other men, the
wealthy, the middle class, the 1 percent?
No.
You see, without clarifying
this phrase, blessed are the poor in spirit,
we might actually miss the personal
application that Jesus wants us to take from
this attitude.
You see,
you know, I kinda like the thought
that the poor are blessed simply because they're
poor.
And that's because it it relieve me of
the guilt that I might
feel over not being poor.
I don't have to feel bad about having
so much.
Because I can comfort myself with the thought
that Jesus also has a blessing for those
who don't have much.
But that's not what Jesus intends with this
statement.
Jesus isn't only talking about those folks who
have no money.
He's talking about you.
He's talking about me.
He didn't pronounce this blessing
to make the poor feel better
about the fact that they have no money.
He didn't pronounce it so that we could
feel better about being in the middle class.
Jesus is serving notice.
That when it comes to the economy of
the kingdom of god, the rich and the
poor enter on the same basis.
In the economy of the kingdom,
less is more.
The only ones who enter the kingdom are
the ones who know
what they don't have.
Those who know what they don't have.
Do you ever calculate your finances,
say at the beginning or the end of
the month?
And have you ever found yourself coming up
short?
No matter the amount you have, even if
you got extra that month,
the results are often the same. It's never
quite enough. Do you know that feeling?
We always wish,
I wish I had just a little bit
more.
Right?
Well, believe it or not, that's how Jesus
wants you to feel when it comes to
the kingdom of god
It is no accident that Jesus begins his
description of this blessed.
Super happy awesome life
with a negative,
blessed
are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are are those who know they are
lacking.
You see he wants us to calculate
our resources.
When it comes to our own righteousness
and recognize that as much as we may
think we have
It is not
enough.
We can go even further and say that
he wants us to calculate our resources
when it comes to our own righteousness,
and we need to realize that by kingdom
standards,
we are bankrupt.
The ledger book is in the red.
Once again, we come up against the strange
math
of the kingdom of God.
Less
is more.
Bankruptcy
is a sign of riches
spiritual bankruptcy
is the prerequisite
to blessing
because Jesus Christ
only offers grace
to those who know
that they have nothing to add.
It begins at the point of salvation.
We turn to Christ and say, God,
be mer on me, a sinner.
We recognize
that we have a debt before God and
we have no means
to make good on that debt,
and we also recognize that Jesus Christ
has canceled that debt
when he died on the cross.
The blessing
that Jesus talks about in this attitude
begins at the point of salvation, but it
doesn't end there.
Notice that there is a promise
connected
with this
attitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit
for
Theirs is the kingdom
of God.
You see this is Jesus
answer to the inevitable question and that's raised
by this be attitude. Why?
Why God are the poor in spirit blessed?
Because they know how to reckon
according to the strange math of the kingdom
of God.
They recognize that less is more when it
compels us to see our need. Less is
more when it prompts us to call only
upon Jesus Christ.
And so then this leads right into the
third part,
of Jesus super happy, joyful kingdom math in
the kingdom of heaven,
less is more when we are focused
on our inheritance
are inheritance.
When Jesus,
what Jesus says in this is beat attitude.
Is a word of
promise.
But it's also
a word of
correction.
It assumes
that we have a tendency
to live by different math than god's math.
You see, we don't live in a world
that believes less is more. Do we?
We live in a world where more is
more.
More and more and more, and everything needs
to be super improved and better.
Right?
There is a great
temptation to value
that which is of little value in this
world.
To consider to be gain
what may actually work
to our loss.
To think we have much when we really
have little.
And friends, frankly, that's 1 of the reasons
why
some of us are nervous
about following Christ.
We're worried about what we might lose in
the process.
What will I have to give up?
What will I have to?
And I suppose there's some basis for such
concerns
in those questions.
Jesus does talk about loss
in connection with being a disciple.
Following Jesus certainly
involves loss,
but it is not a matter of earning
the right
to become a disciple.
Jesus doesn't say
if you must give up this or that
to become a disciple. You know what he
says? You've gotta give it. All up.
Give it everything
up.
That's what he talks about
in his teachings.
Following Jesus
involves
complete loss.
It's
a matter
of exchange.
We exchange our life
for his life.
But in this first
attitude, He looks at it from a little
different angle.
Here, Jesus
emphasizes, what is gained?
What is there for the poor and spirit?
Well, there's a kingdom.
The kingdom of heaven is theirs.
So what does Jesus mean when he says,
the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor
and spirit.
We know that what he says is literally
true.
There will be a literal kingdom. The bible
tells us at 1 day, the kingdoms of
this world will come to an end, and
the kingdom of Christ will endure
forever.
Jesus will come in his glory, he will
reign as king,
but what will then be true is, in
fact,
true
today already. In principle
for those who belong to Christ.
In Luke chapter 17, we read that after
Jesus had been questioned and again, by the
ph his critics
about when this so called kingdom of God
was coming.
Jesus answered. And here's what he said. The
kingdom of God does not come with your
careful
observation,
nor will people say here it is or
there it is.
Because
the kingdom of God
is within you.
It's within you.
At its very heart, the kingdom of heaven
is the reign of Christ within
his followers.
If it can be said that those who
are poor in spirit are heirs to the
kingdom of heaven, then it must also be
said that the poor and spirit
experience
the reign of Christ.
In other words, what is this treasure that
Jesus speaks of in this verse?
Is it
the pearly gates or the streets of gold?
Is it a mansion just over the hilltop?
Friends, those are just
those are just physical
pictures
of something that is so
so much more. The ultimate
treasure
of his kingdom
is Jesus
himself.
It is the person and presence of Christ.
But there's something even more. When Jesus speaks
of the poor and spirit in the kingdom
here in Matthew 5 3 he uses that
language of ownership. He says of the poor
spirit, the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
He doesn't merely say that they will see
the kingdom. He doesn't even say that they'll
enter the kingdom. Jesus speaks in terms of
possession.
It belongs
to those who follow him.
In the spring of 20 21, a man
was peru a yard sale new near New
Haven Connecticut. And he purchased a a blue
and white Chinese bowl for 35 dollars.
The small blue and white flu features motifs
of lotus and Pe and cr anthem and
pomegranate blossoms.
And it turns out that that garage sale
find
was originally
commissioned by China's imperial court
during the fifteenth century,
the Ming Dynasty.
And so what was observed to be simply
a quaint
decorative piece sitting on somebody's shelf,
turned out to be an exceptionally
rare
Chinese
artifacts.
What was purchased for 35 bucks
at a garage sale was later sold at
auction by So
for 721000
dollars,
721,
800 dollars.
The head of the Chinese art department Saw
revealed in a phone in interview ahead of
the sale, that the man who found the
bowl at the yard sale said he didn't
even h over the 35 dollar asking price.
Less
it's more
You see it? Less is more the friends,
the economy of God's kingdom is upside down.
It's counter.
It doesn't make sense.
According to the math of this world, and
that is because god often hides great value
behind the veil of the ordinary.
That's why they didn't believe Jesus was the
messiah.
He was just an ordinary rabbi.
He didn't look like a mighty king.
He wasn't a warrior.
Certainly wasn't rich.
Wasn't powerful.
Greatness
veil
in the ordinary.
Those who are poor in spirit might not
have much in this life. They might be
a 35 dollar garage sale find. Or even
an un sell piece of junk left in
the free box.
At the end of the sale,
but they do have this much.
They
possess
the kingdom.
They have an internal inheritance worth far more
than anything in this world with a value
so great it can't even be calculated
in terms of human wealth.
And friends if you've given your life to
Jesus.
These truths
are for you today,
to shape your thinking
to help you in your daily walk
in setting your priorities and your goals
and your purposes
if
you are a follower
of Jesus christ.
So friends are you tired of the temporary?
Have you found yourself searching and searching for
happiness only to come up
empty, short again, and again,
remember this happiness comes and goes.
But joy
is untouchable.
It's
unspeakable. We can't even fully
verbal
True, blessed ness. Real joy comes from above
and for those
who know Jesus Christ as savior and as
Lord. Those who will 1 day live for
eternity
in heaven who are heirs of the kingdom
they
have right now
ever lasting,
joy.
That is the truth available
to each 1 who would choose
to receive it.
That is the coin
in the fish head
available for you
today. Let's pray together.