Sermon on the mount by Kong Hee (25.11.07)

Attitude is what God looking for in us. God starts from inside.

The Beatitudes (Mt5:1-10)

Every sentence starts with "blessed be..."
To be blessed is to find the approval of God!

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

poor in spirit---pleading, lack inside, desperate for spiritual breakthrough

Gen25 Jacob and Esau

"I'm so hungry, what's the birth right so important to me?"
Esau's attitude was exposed, he despised his birthright given to him.
In contrast, Jacob, though with many problems, he always wanted more from God.

Rev 2:17 Hidden Manna--revelation only reserved to those who seek it.

When we are poor in spirit, we have no other way, inside we are pleading for God so much that we would be fed with the hidden Manna, God will speak to us then.

2. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Mourn=brokenness

Ps 51 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, God, you will not despise.

brokenness is not a broken heart, which is broken by sin,Satan and the world.

heart of brokenness is a heart broken by the grace of God
it means total humility before God
but few people broken before Lord like this---human beings are like cars, we all like to move from place to place, inside we have an axle "I" was spinning all the time: i want to do this, i feel like this way, I want it to be in this way...but God takes this out and breaks it; instead He puts 'Christ" as the axle: Christ wants me to do this and then i'll do; Christ wants me to go there and i'll go, Christ wants me to speak, i speak. For people who born again having such genuine attitude, there's no room for casual Christians anymore.

For these people, they will be comforted by God.

3. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

There are two persons mentioned in the Bible who are described as meek: Jesus and Moses. Though Moses is the meekest people on earth, he is strong. If you are going to confront the Pharaoh, if you are going to lead 3 million people who were slaves and always in chaos, if you are going to lead them go through the Red Sea when the strongest armies are chasing you at your neck, you better have a strong personality.
But meekness is not weakness, it's the attitude of humility.

No pastor can force you to be humble. Only you can humble yourself; you have to make the choice to humble yourself.

"God, make me humble before you" is just as silly as "God, make me love you more"
It's your own decision to humble, it's your own decision to love.

When you are insulted, only meekness give you capacity to let go--you need to be strong to have meekness.

4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Spiritual hunger is the key to get rid of dryness(Ps 63:1-2)

If you are preparing a great feast, making the best wine and food ready, you cannot guarantee your guest are hungry enough to enjoy the good meal. It's easy to become complacent and not hungry for God--we need to have this "holy dissatisfaction" inside.

5. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Our gentleness will make others great.Capacity to forgive all the time.

The key to forgiveness is forgetfulness(just as how God forgave us, he forgave all our sins, cleanse us as white as snow)

Gen 41:51 Joseph, "God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household"

It's better when someone come to you and ask for your forgiveness, you would say,"oh, for what? i already forget it."

God wants us to be merciful and forgiving.

Jesus suffered when he is tempted. (Heb 4:17). But because he is tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. To teach us mercy God allow us to go through great temptations. (that's true!) God provides this space to us to develop compassion for others: so that when my brothers come to me and is going through the same thing, i can understand them and bless them. If you want to be like Jesus, you will go through great temptations. So when people come to you, you can be blessings to others.

6. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

A pure heart is more than away from sin and and immorality, in James 1:5 it says God dislike double-mindedness. A pure heart is a heart of singleness and one devotion to God, it's unity in heart. It's not partial obedience, which will not bear any fruit spiritually.

Be 100% pursuing God and fully goes after God, in order to experience God in a tangible way!

7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Peace of God is a powerful weapon.

Rom 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Peace is a weapon which can crush Satan! in Mark 4:39, Jesus said "Be still" and calmed the sea. He was actually speaking to the demonic power behind the sea. Peace prepares the way for revival to come.

Peace is not avoiding conflicts and pretend nothing happens. Unity can only build on truth! We have to learn to handle complexities of relationships, a peace maker is a mature person, who discern hearts and spiritually mature. When you become spiritually mature son, then God can entrusts his inheritance to you.

8. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

God is not raising up softies, he is raising up a strong and powerful army, who can stand persecution. When we follow God, there will be pain, pain from others, from this world, and also pain of obedience, which is the hardest. But for those they would inherit kingdom of heaven.