How to Be Blessed | Matthew 5:1-12 & 7:24-27

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to The Bible Guys. And we are Chris and Jeff. And we were just chit chatting and almost chatted right into. The beginning of the episode because I thought they were rehearsing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we are. Recording, Jeff, and we're launching. Off and this is way more important than our chit chat. Uh, well it depends. Well, this is about the Bible, it is. Yeah, but I was talking about the Bible you were. Yeah, so they're equal. Yeah. Hey, today we're actually launching the Brandishes. That's all you do? You just talk about the Bible. Oh my whole life all the time. I do nothing else. Yeah. Hey, we're launching a Brandon series today. Okay, I'm excited about it. What is it. Well, we're looking at the Beatitudes like the next five weeks. That's awesome. And uh, there was a previous episode I don't know if you remember this several months ago where we talked about the beatitudes when Jesus says, you know, blessed her the poor and spirit whatever and then I made a comment that all the rest of the Sermon on the Mount is connected to one of the Beatitudes, and so as we were coming into the new year, I thought, hey, let's do that. That's sounds like fun. Really, what we're talking about is Jesus establishes how his the values of his kingdom followers are going to have, and then as a result of those values, this is the life you're going to live. Right. It's kind of a neat idea. It's about dialing into our faith. Yeah. And by the way, I am growing in excitement even as you're saying that, because I love that idea. But just so you know, when he just said, I decided, hey, why not do it for the first of the year, just for our listeners. Know, so, Jeff pretty much comes up with the content for the Bible guys, and I usually take care. I lean more towards the weekend stuff right at Heritage Church. So I found out that we were doing a series of the Beatitudes about five minutes ago. Yeah, well, that's the whole premise of this of the podcast, that's right. It is just with a couple of guys who talk about the Bible in fun of practical ways, that's right, And we don't it's all ad lib. We don't prep it, and we just read what's on the page and talk about it, which is from what we've learned and from the notes in the page. And there's a reason for that, because we believe that that's what is possible when you sit down and read us word yourself. Yep, you don't have to be a theologian to understand the Bible. That's right, that's right. So before we get into that, Jeff, okay, we have a segment called would you rather? What a great way to start off. I love these? Yeah, so would you rather? So? There's five of them. I'll read the first one. Here we go. Okay, Jeff, would you rather live in a world where socks always disappear? Or where what is that? Or one where every chair slightly wobbles? Oh my goodness, gracious, well, I think that's a pretty easy one. I already live in a world where socks always disappear. Yes, right, I already live in that world. So I guess I'll live in this world. I'll keep living here, right in this world, don't you think? Yeah? Well, I mean there, it's almost it's almost uncanny, I know. So I do a load of laundry and I will literally grab everything, put it in, and then put it in the dryer, and then take it out, and all of a sudden there's one sock missing. And I'm like, how is that even possitive? Right, because I know I threw both socks in the hamper, right, yes, Like they both went in and there's nothing in the hamper. And I've looked at my trail and there's nothing on the ground. I think dryers eat them, yes, or washers or washers, you could think it. I wonder if that's true. Wouldn't that be something probably if one. Day we all took apart the washers in the junkyards and it was filled with socks. Yeah, let's ask, let's ask chat GPT. Are you sure? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's ask and see if chet GPT. Well. As you're doing that, let me just say a chair wobbling is the worst it is. That's why I said, Hey, already live in this sock missing world. Yeah, yeah, chair wobbling is off. What is the real reason, Oh, it's not looking at it, Okay, What is the real reason that always go missing in the laundry. Oh, let me do it again. What is the real reason socks always go missing in the laundry? The age old sock mystery. Honestly, it's a combination of things. Sometimes socks get stuck in little crevices of the washing machino dryer or cling to other clothing and hide. Sometimes one sock falls out of the laundry basket en route or just ends up somewhere unexpected. In other words, it's not so much a magical sock eating void as it is just a bunch of tiny, sneaky mishaps. Wow. Perfect, So we nailed it. Very first suggestion was that the machine ate it. Yeah. Yeah, but he's suggesting that they get hidden crevices and maybe get in another load or something. That's true. Yeah, So all right, Well that's a good one. Okay, let's move on. Here's the next one. Would you rather forget people's names immediately or call everyone the wrong name? Confidently? Oh? Goodness, gracious, by far the first one. I already do that. Yeah right, I was gonna say I already do these things. Yeah, I'm thinking, like, you know, you can live in a world where you can fake it until you make it. But to call everybody's name wrong. Confidently, you'd become known as the most hated person ever. You'd be like, hey, Bill, it's it's Todd. Okay, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Absolutely? Hey? Did I ever tell you? One day? One day I had this youth group activity. I had a huge, huge amount of visitors is back in the nineties, And then I was speaking in front of everybody, in front of the whole group, and I said, man, I walked around and I met everybody, and I looked in the front row and I said, you know, your name's like Sharon, right, And he goes, no, it's Todd. He had long brown hair, and I called him a girl in front of everybody. I did that. That's true. Super cool youth pastor Yeah, super cool youth pastor awesome, that's all right. Number three? Would you rather trip every time you're trying to look cool or burp loudly every time you're nervous? Wow, that's a tough one. Yeah. I think I would rather trip. Yeah, because then you can just stop trying to look cool. Yeah. I was gonna say, I normally don't try to look cool, right, I gave, I gave up on that a long time ago. Yeah, And and and to burp every time you're nervous is amplifying the anxiety. Well, and you and I are public speakers, right, right, so people think that we don't have any nerves when it comes to speaking. It's just that we we direct that energy, right, is the way you do. But there's still the nervousness of it. Sure. So, yeah, we're about to do twenty three identical Christmas services. Yeah, you don't think we're nervous about that. It's coming, right, And even. Though they're hearing this after. Ezech rights, I believe so. Yet it wasn't it great, Jeff? It was amazing. It not as good as you. Oh well, I think you tried. You tried your hardest, and that's what really counts. You bailed on the on the raise, Chris, all right. I started the praise, Chris, Yeah, and then you bail out it. Would you rather sweat glitter or cry confetti? Well, I'd rather I'd rather cry confetti. Yeah, Well, because glitter is from the pits of hellth. Oh, I agree. Glitter should be banned. Yeah, there should be like a u N banning of it worldwide. Yeah, glitter. You know, I made a joke before and I said, I said, if you if I, if you ever send me a card with glitter on it, you're going to not be my friend. And some person actually thought that it would be funny to send me a car with glitter after I said that, and I am still mad at him to this day. And he goes, he goes, oh, I thought it'd be funny, And I said, I don't think you heard me. I'm not joking. This isn't a game, that's right. You think glitter falling out onto my desk and my carpet is funny. No, that that is unbelievably it's out ever, it's outrageously bad, yes, and so yeah, it's not funny. I remember when my daughter was younger, she was like a tween, and she came home with some of that glittering little like uh, what do you call it? Like lip gluss lip bluss, yeah, And I was like, get rid of that. She's like why, I said, either get rid of your glitter or move out. She's like in sixth grade. Or move out. That's great, all right? Last one? I hate it. Would you rather have to explain every joke you make or never be allowed to explain yourself ever again. Oh man, that's all what a terrible. I think I would choose explain every. Joke me too. So we've agreed on all five. Did we really? Yeah? We really did? Yeah. Well we're very similar similar today and I feel like I'm always having to explain all my jokes to you. Really are you saying they're complicated? I'm just over there with. Me? What you mean? That is one of my that's one of my favorite cutdowns. Look at the picture with the dog that I made, and. That is one of my favorite slams, is when somebody is like disagreeing with me or acting like they don't understand why they say is all right, let me go some carry on to see if I can explain explain this to you. Yeah, that's really funny. Yeah, okay, all right, Well our time is up for the same awesome good John buddy. Yeah, well today. Our time may be up for the segment, but we have unlimited time in the Kingdom of God. Well, that's what we're talking about. That's true. I was going to say today we're talking about the Kingdom of God. Jesus is unpacking the values. We're supposed to have. That's the first twelve verses of the Book of Matthew chapter five, and then the rest of Matthew five, all of six, and all of seven. Jesus then unpacks the behaviors that are the result of the values we're supposed to have. So what you're really saying is the the sourl of the mount is Matthew five, six, seven. Yeah, oh no, I was avoiding that. Actually. Sorry. Yep, okay, anyways, here we go, my favorite middle schooler right here next to me. So here we go. Matthew chapter five. It says, one day, as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountain side and sat down in His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them. God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. And God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you, and lie about you, and say all sorts of evil things against you, because you are my followers, be happy about it. Be very glad, for a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way. So those are what we call the Beatitudes. Now we're in weersby Warren Whersby. Warren Wharsby, wasn't he the guy who wrote the Attitudes? No? No, the Little Books? Oh, the b the B series, all the b Yeah, the B series. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah. He's also the guy that actually is the author for the study version of my Bible, or the study portion of my Bible. This is the Transformation Study Bible. Doctor Warren W. Whersby is the editor for the Study portion. Of my He was one of the pastors of Moody Church in Chicago. Yeah, yeah, yeah, one of the great churches in American history. Yeah, and he yeah, but he wrote these little tiny books in case you don't know what they are, and there's what there's how many twelve books. It's a bunch of them. Yeah, and and they're they're called the b Series and you could read one in fifteen minutes. They're great. Yeah, they're great, really good Bible stock. Yes, I agree. So Jesus starts off saying, you'll be blessed if these are your values. Right, God will bless you if these are your values. And then he ends And I just thought we could kind of bookend it and see what his whole purpose behind it is. He ends it in Matthew seven, verse twenty one, and he says, is it verse twenty one? Is that what I was going to read? What did I send to you? You're the one that wrote I send it to you? Oh you did? Yeah? Let me let me look it up because I don't want to mess this up. Yeah, twenty four. I'm reading twenty four. Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on a solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents, and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house. It won't collapse because it's built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. And then I'll just read this. It says when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowd were amazed at his teachings, for you taught with real authority, quite unlike their teachers of religious law. So they were amazed by this message, which we're going to spend the next few weeks on packing. Okay, so the message of the Sermon on the Mount was given on the side of a hill with great acoustics. Yeah yeah, so yeah, Capernaum in Galilee, Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And we've been on that site. Yeah yeah. So both of us at different times have been on that site. Because I went to Israel in two thousand and nine, you went. In twenty twenty three, twenty. Twenty three, And yet it's really interesting how you can stand on that hill and talk a great distance away and you can actually hear. Yeah, it's like an amphitheater. Yeah, did they do that test for you? No, we didn't go down that far. Okay, Yeah, it's very very interesting. And yeah, it's like it's almost like God. Like God wouldn't have to test the acoustics. He would just know, right, Jesus would know when he was designing. I'm convinced that when he designed Israel, he designed it four miracles and communication and sending his message. I believe he designed it that way. And I believe that when he designed the Red Sea, he designed it for a path for children of Israel to walk across. He's planning ahead. I believe it. And so anyway, the point is is that he delivers the sermon there, and even though it's found in Matthew's chapters five, six, and seven, it's really an isolated sermon incident. Right, So we read it and we just sort of, you know, move on. We go from chapter four through chapter eight, nine, ten, and we view it as like good advice. But this was an event, and in this event was the longest sermon that Jesus ever gave. As a matter of fact, the notes here in the left application study Bible, say, Matthew five through seven is called the Sermon on the Mount because Jesus gave it on the hillside near Capernaum. To your point, this sermon probably covered several days of preaching, which I've read before. I don't know why they think that, but I've read different scholars say this was more than likely. It was like summary of multiple days of preaching. That's how they depicted it. On the Chosen, I mean, they do their research on the Chosen to an extensive degree, even though they take liberties with the unspokens. But on the Sermon of the Mount, it was over several days. Several days. It makes sense to me because it's all a bunch of one liners for the most part, or a one liner and then a little bit of unpacking and then a one liner or another. That's really almost the whole message, is that way little summary statements where you know there's way more. It's why we can preach for weeks and weeks and weeks on this and not covered all is because the Bible says so much more about every single topic Jesus preaches, and so it really does seem like this is a summary of multiple days of preaching. Anyways, it says in it, Jesus taught people what God's kingdom is meant to be. Position, authority, and money are not important his kingdom. What matters is faithful obedience to God from the heart, which leads to genuine love for God and others and transforms lives, communities, and nations. The Sermon on the Mount challenges the proud and legalistic religious leaders of the day. It called them back to the messages of the Old Testament prophets who like Jesus taught that heartfelt devotion to God and loving service to others matter more than religious observance. So that's really what he's getting after here. There is a point where he goes after the religious elite, the Pharisees and those, but for the most part he's unpacking. This is what it means to be one of my followers. I read a note on Matthew five on the Sermon of the Mount that was really interesting because it says this. I never thought about this, he says. Wheersby says, the Sermon on the Mountain is one of the most misunderstood messages that Jesus ever gave. In that a statement he said. One group says that it's God's plan of salvation, that if we have to that if we ever hope to go to heaven, we must obey the rules. Is there a group that actually takes the Sermon on the Mountain? Says that apparently because he's because he says, your righteousness has must exceed exceed the Pharisees. That's what we're talking about that tomorrow. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe that's why, he says. Another group calls it a charter for world peace and begs the nations of the earth to accept it. Still, a third group tells us that the Sermon on the mount Ready for this does not apply today, and that it will apply sometime in the future, perhaps during the tribulation of the millennial Kingdom. What when Jesus said, this is what it's like in my kingdom. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, so so so pretty crazy there, Yeah, right, when clearly these are you know, these are applications and commands for today, living now with one another. Yeah, well, I think I think people are always looking humans Christians too, always looking for reasons to not have to obey, right, And so you find because it's hard the things he's gonna say some of my least favorite things Jesus says. He says in the in these three chapters. Oh right, right when he says your enemy difficult. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm like, man, I wish that wasn't in there, right right, do good to your enemies, pray for your enemies. Uh. He says some really hard things, and so there. He says a lot about marriage, he says a lot about money, he says, he says a lot about our attitudes and generosity and I mean tons of things. And he's really laying it out that this is these are the traits that I'm looking for in my followers. But if you didn't want to have to do that kind of work, then you would go, oh, this is some other day. This is when Jesus in the millennium. This is when Jesus is ruling over the world is the king. That's when everybody's gonna behave this way. Which doesn't make sense because he does say, blessed are you when you persecuted? Why would you be persecuted when Jesus is ruling. Right right, You're gonna be persecuted in heaven. Yeah, But there are weird people who in weird people. There are weird beliefs about this passage that don't don't coincide with what you clearly can see on the page, and. We believe people who believe weird beliefs are weird people. Yeah, yeah, so it's it's a it's kind of a weird thing. So your your premise of mine, the premise of the whole this whole podcast is we can understand the clearly written words on the page. Now there might be more depth than what we clearly what we can see on the page, but the page can be taken as it's written for the most part, right, and we can we can cross reference, certainly to get more clarity on things. But I think the easiest reading is the one that is the just the actual words that Jesus is saying. That's the probably the closest to the true meaning. So he's saying, I think each of the beatitudes is in almost direct contradiction to the way that we really see our lives and the way we think blessing works, because he goes, hey, blessed that are poor in spirit, or blessed are those who mourn, Blessed to those who are humble, bless to those who hunger and thirst for justice, those don't feel like blessings. Those feel like the exact opposite to us, right right. But he then unpacks it through the whole rest of this message, and I think you'll get it. So today's podcast is like an overview introductory kind of an idea, even though we read through them. Would you also say that if the Sermon on the Mount covers five, six, and seven, would you say that this falls under the Middle Eastern thinking, where you know, he lays out the first twelve verses, lays out the beatitudes, then he spends sort of the middle of the sermon talking all about those ideas and all everything he teaches in the Sermon on the Mount is connected to a beattitude. And then and then he summarizes it at the end. Hey, those who follow these are like. This house, You're gonna be blessed. And those who don't follow these are gonna be like this house. Yeah, you're gonna collapse. Would would you say that falls in Yeah, at least I. Think so a little bit. So the idea that you're talking about is it is called the kayism, and it usually means that the middle statement there's going to be three to five statements before and after the unpack the main idea. So this isn't exactly that, but it does fall into the pattern of the middle explains. The rest the rest, right, Yeah, okay. So I think that's what he's doing through this is he's unpacking. Okay, my kingdom is going to be different, and my followers are going to be different, and it's going to be almost exactly the opposite of what you think. So let me tell you at the beginning it's going to be really different, and then let me tell you the end. If you choose to be different, you're gonna have a blessed life. Both the beginning and the end start with blessing. And then he says, but if you choose not to do what I say, then you're going to struggle. Right, your life's going to collapse around you. Because he does say when the storms come. He doesn't say if the storms come, we're surprised when the storms come, but he says when the storms come. At my brother's memorial, we talked about this later my brother's memorial. I mentioned that these things we either believe in our worst moments or we don't believe them at all. Right, right, And so how can you say that only if you've built your life on the rock right, which is Jesus. We know that only if you've built your life around implementing these things as much as possible. None of us can perfectly do it, but all of us should be striving towards it. All of us should look at you want to know what the playbook is for a Christian, Get super familiar with Matthew five, six and seven, and you're not going to go wrong. Right. That's the way to live. And so I hope that our listeners will make that commitment as we lean into this over the next four or five weeks, that don't just be a here decide you know what, I'm going to implement each of these things to my very best ability, and I'm going to pray that God helps me and empowers me in this, because God says he will bless you, and that word blessing literally means in Greek it means happy. You'll be happy. The life you're really looking for is in living out the things He says to do here. And one last thing is I think it's interesting that today when we talk about building on a foundation, the importance of building on a foundation versus sinking sand. You know, it feels like today construction workers really understand the depths of those words, you know, the weight of it, but most of us don't, you know. I mean, we know the concept, but we really haven't seen it played out, you know, like that's right, it's like a loss that collapses. Right. We've all seen videos and things like that. But back then, in the first entry, everybody built their own homes right right, right, so they know exactly what it means to make sure that before you start to build, make sure that it's on a strong foundation. Certainly not on a crumbling cliff or the sand next to the shore, because all of your work is going to come crashing down. And you know, that house represents the home that you live in your life. It represents the life in which you live. And so the word picture of that summary at the end is pretty incredible, which I'm sure we'll hit on again, I think, so yeah, So hey, that is that is our time. So thank you for joining us, and hopefully we will see you tomorrow as we unpack the beatitudes on the Bible. Guys,