Unpacking the Beatitudes: A Declaration of Spiritual War

We're going to look at Matthew, chapter 5, verses 1 and 2.

Seeing the crowds, he went up to the mountain.

And when he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and he taught them.

This was not a devotional talk.

This was not poetic encouragement.

This was not even spiritual self help.

This was actually a declaration of spiritual war.

Jesus does not preach the Beatitudes in the synagogue.

He does not preach them in the temple courts.

He goes up on a mountain.

Where?

Why?

Let me tell you.

Because mountains in Scripture are governmental places.

This is revelation.

Moses receives the law on a mountain.

Elijah confronts BAAL on a mountain.

Abraham offers Isaac on a mountain.

Jesus is not just teaching morals.

He is announcing the government of a new kingdom and its constitution.

This sermon did not confront it comfort Rome.

It confronted it.

It confronted the Pharisees and, and listen, it confronted even the elite.

It overturned the entire system and it still does today.

Okay, so this is going to be unlike anything you've ever heard before concerning the Beatitudes.

So to understand the Beatitudes, you must understand the systems that Jesus actually confronted.

Number one, Rome, the empire of power.

So Rome was basically saying, blessed are the strong, blessed are the conquerors, blessed are the violent, blessed are those who dominate.

This is the messaging of Rome, Rome, worship, force, status and fear.

Does it sound familiar?

Then you've got number two, the religious elite, the empire of performance.

Come on, this is.

We're going to go really deep.

So the Pharisees said, blessed are the discipline, blessed are the rule keepers.

Blessed are the outwardly righteous, blessed are the spiritually impressive.

Come on.

Religion had become a ladder of superiority.

Number three.

It confronted the economic system, the empire of wealth.

So the rich were considered blessed by God.

The poor seemed to be as if they were cursed.

Prosperity was proof of righteousness.

Poverty was proof of failure.

So now Jesus begins to open his mouth and every sentence begins to detonate the one of these systems.

So the Beatitudes are incredibly important to understand as countercultural.

The word blessed in Greek does not mean happy.

It actually means approved by heaven.

So Jesus is now redefining who is approved, who is powerful, who inherits the earth, who actually belongs to God.

This is so rich.

Watch this.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

This is verse three.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This is not about humility.

That's how people read it.

This is about bankruptcy.

Poor in spirit, those who know that they have nothing to offer God.

So this confronts religious pride, self made righteousness, spiritual elitism, which by the way is still in the church today, in Jesus Day, the Pharisees believed that the kingdom belonged to the spiritually accomplished.

And Jesus literally turns that upside down and says, the kingdom belongs to those who know that they don't deserve it.

Come on.

Do I have anybody who can recognize this with me?

But let's talk about this hyper platform Christianity, this spiritual branding, this performative holiness, these metrics that replace repentance in the local church.

Jesus says, you don't climb into the kingdom, you collapse into it through surrender.

Oh, this is so good.

What about this number two.

Blessed are those who mourn.

Now this is in verse four.

Okay.

For they shall be comforted.

This is not mourning circumstances.

This is mourning your sin.

This confronts a numb culture, a distracted society, a religious person that's allergic to repentance.

In Jesus Day, people mourned loss, but they didn't mourn corruption.

They didn't mourn their sin.

And we've got that same demonic system today, entertainment that anesthetizes our conviction.

News cycles that outrage but never transform churches that replace repentance with actual affirmation of sin.

Mourning is dangerous to hell because it'll lead to repentance.

Comfort does not come to the entertained.

Comfort comes to the broken.

Ah, come on, let's keep going.

Blessed are the meek.

Verse 5.

Are y' all loving this?

For they shall inherit the earth.

Meekness is power under control.

Jesus is not praising weakness.

He is confronting violent revolution.

So the zealots of the day, they believed, hey, take the land by force.

Physically, Jesus says, no, no, the earth is inherited, not seized.

And we've got this same demonic system today.

Rage driven activism in protest, political idolatry.

Power through outrage, victory through volume.

How loud can we get?

And the devil loves angry Christians.

They're loud but powerless.

Meekness terrifies hell because it trusts God that he's the judge.

Ah, come on.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Verse 6.

We're just going to keep going.

For they shall be satisfied.

Not hunger for blessing, not hunger for influence.

And followers, not hunger for success.

Righteousness.

What does this confront?

Comfort, Christianity, Consumer faith, Spiritual apathy.

Okay, same demonic system today.

Let's talk about it.

Christianity as a product so we can sell it.

Sermons designed to soothe, not to sanctify in a gospel without repentance.

And Jesus says, if righteousness is optional, then satisfaction is impossible.

Come on.

Blessed are the Merciful.

Verse 7.

Let's keep going.

For they shall receive mercy.

Mercy dismantles cycles of vengeance.

In Jesus Day.

You know, Rome ruled By fear.

Religion ruled by judgment.

So you have these two sides imposing.

So mercy therefore was revolutionary.

And we need to understand this because we have cancel culture today.

We have public shaming.

We have permanent punishment.

Right?

Hell loves unforgiveness because it chains entire generations.

But mercy breaks the devil.

That depends on it.

Come on.

And I'm believing for freedom for many of you right now.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

This is verse 8.

For they shall see God.

Purity is not moral perfection.

It is undivided allegiance.

Okay, Come on.

This confronts a double minded faith.

Compartmentalized Christianity.

Right?

And many of us are struggling with this.

And this is going to help you.

Don't normalize secret sin.

Have a public faith.

Not a private compromise.

You know, don't have a church.

Addicted to image.

We don't have a reputation.

We're not going to be divided in heart.

We belong to Jesus.

Can I get an amen?

Blessed are the peacemakers.

This is verse nine.

For they shall be called sons of God.

Not peacekeepers.

Peacemakers.

Peace is going to cost something.

Right?

Peace.

To make peace carries a high price.

And we have this demonic system of conflict driven algorithms.

Division as profit to make money.

Tribal Christianity and the devil monetizes our division.

But God anoints our reconciliation.

Come on.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness.

Verses 10 and 12.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

You know, Jesus ends actually where he began.

The kingdom belongs to these people.

If your faith never confronts systems.

Come on.

You may belong to the system.

Let's talk about this demonic system today.

Soft persecution through ridicule.

Come on now.

Marginalization of biblical truth.

Pressure to redefine righteousness and what God's word says.

No, no.

Jesus says, rejoice.

You're actually in good company.

Come on.

You're in good company.

This is the final reveal.

Because this sermon was actually about Jesus the entire time.

The Beatitudes, they're not just commands, they're a portrait.

Imagine this with me.

Jesus was poor in spirit, a man of sorrows, meek, hungry for righteousness.

He was merciful, pure in heart.

He was a peacemaker.

He was actually persecuted.

And he didn't just preach the kingdom.

He embodied the kingdom.

He brought the kingdom.

Understand that.

The Beatitudes, Jesus was living it out right in front of them.

And every system has a blessing structure.

The world basically says, blessed are the loud, blessed are the rich, Blessed are the aggressive.

Blessed are the affirmed.

Come on.

But Jesus says, blessed are the broken, the surrendered, the pure, the persecuted.

You cannot belong to both kingdoms.

This Mountain I'm on right now, where Jesus stood and spoke.

This message still speaks today.

And the question is, what system are you living under?

You know, you know, listen, you're going to have to make a choice.

And oftentimes we have to destroy our allegiance to the world system so that we can now say, okay, God, teach me your ways.

You know, it's funny because Jesus went to a mountain, he didn't do this in the synagogue.

And one of the things that people marvel at here on this very ground is how could he have spoken to so many people?

How could he have even, you know, fed the 5,000, which didn't include many others?

That's just the smallest number that we have represented.

And I'll tell you this, it's because Jesus understood that sometimes in order to get a message out, you've got to break out of the synagogue and get into the stadium.

It may not have been a stadium constructed in the way that we know it, but I find it interesting, as you look over my shoulder here, that you see the elevation goes up.

Jesus would have turned around and spoke into a stadium style seating and delivered a message that the masses would have heard as his voice just reverberated through this area.

See, sometimes you've got to bring a message in an unusual place.

I'm here right now being reminded that Jesus was going into the system to break the system.

Come on, we got celebrities going into stadiums, but then we've got the voices crying in the wilderness, the prophetic voices that will go into areas and begin to speak the word of the Lord.

The question I want to ask you right now as I come to a close is are you willing to say God, I want to be countercultural.

I want to be so unrecognizable that even my own family's like, what happened to him?

Did he lose his mind?

Oh, yes, I lost my mind.

For the sake of Christ, I'm not going to do it Rome's way.

I'm not going to do it the way of the Pharisees.

I am going to follow Jesus.

I am going to journey with Jesus.

I'm going to become a disciple.

And the ways that I live might sound crazy to you, but.

But they're normal in the, in the citizenship in which I have in heaven.

Come on, let me pray for you right now.

Because I feel the power of God.

You are a generational bloodline curse breaker, which is why you're here right now.

And you're one that would just hear the Beatitudes, but you would have got up and said, okay, God, I want to do it too.

I want to be a doer of the word.

Father, I thank you right now that you're speaking and moving in the lives of everyone watching God, that we're unlearning the ways of the world so that we can learn the ways of your kingdom.

Father and I thank you that as demonic systems are broken, that heaven begins to invade our homes, our lives, our businesses.

God and I thank you that after this message, lives will be changed forever.

Come on.

If you prayed that with me, just say in Jesus name, amen.

Amen.