What Does It Mean To Live As A Child Of God’s Kingdom?

‘Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ‘ Matthew 5:1-12

Who doesn’t like a good sermon? There are days I leave church walking on air, and there are days I leave there feeling very convicted. The greatest sermon ever preached was by Jesus; it is called the “Sermon on the Mount.”

This sermon is recorded in Matthew in chapters five through seven. I will do my best to encapsulate this sermon as I understand it from my study. This helps me solidify my beliefs and ferret out ideas that I need clarification on. I hope you come on this journey with me, and if you see something I have missed, please leave it in the comments; it will help me grow in my faith.

The first section of the Sermon on the Mount is called the Beatitudes. Oxford defines “beatitude” as “supreme blessedness.”

Oxford defines “blessing” as “God’s favor and protection.”

Let’s get going:

‘Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.

Looking at our culture, you will find that everyone wants to be an influencer. They want to have a voice that persuades others. They want to exercise this influence to peddle products, ideas, and training to make a profit.

We have people who make videos on YouTube, and they are looking for views of their videos to get a check from YouTube. The other day, I talked to my friend, saying we must be careful about the voices we find on these platforms. We need to be careful because many people use these platforms to profit by using division to do so, especially in politics and religion, the two subjects that people will argue about.

Paul ran into this in his ministry, and it continues to this day:

‘It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. ‘ Philippians 1:15-19

I saw all that to say this: Jesus always had a crowd around Him. They were coming to see Him because of His character, healing, and feeding them. Most of those around him were there to have their physical needs met, but some were there to develop that personal relationship that, as believers, we should all be seeking.

It says, “His disciples CAME to Him, and He began to teach them.” This is an important distinction; many of us are looking to teach. Are the students coming to us, or are we forcing our voices onto those around us?

There is a secular quote that I hold close to my heart, and that saying is: ” A person convinced against their will, is of the same opinion still.”

When people come to you because of the character you exhibit in your life, they will be more open to your message. If the character you show is disconnected from your message, people will not believe you, no matter how passionate you are about the message.

He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Oxford Dictionary definition of “blessed” is “made holy.” In the following verses, Jesus will use the word blessed nine times. So when you follow the flow, you will see it like this: “Made holy” followed by a description of the person being made holy.

Blessed are the poor in spirit: Who are those who are poor in spirit? Those “poor in spirit” recognize their place before a Holy God. I read this statement about this subject: “Those who are poor in spirit gladly cast themselves on God’s grace.”

When we realize we are not God and that the highest level of righteousness by our own doing is equal to “filthy rags,” we should conclude that we need a Savior. And the Savior that God provided for us is Jesus.

When God gives us the faith to believe in Jesus, and we submit, we become citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

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

The Oxford definition of “mourn” is “feel or show deep sorrow or regret.” What are we mourning?

We are mourning our sins. Understand, we are not to wallow there. When we look to the Lord to forgive our sins, He says all is forgiven.

‘And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” ‘ Revelation 21:3-4

When the Lord enters our lives, He is with us everywhere we go. “God’s dwelling place is now among the people.”

“There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

We need to understand that this has already happened. When the Lord comes to be in our hearts, we become new creatures with all the blessings that He provides. As for us, we may feel that we are the same, but our responsibility is to live into our calling. And this comes by dying to ourselves daily, laying down our attachments to this world as we move towards the perfect world to come.

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

Oxford defines “meek” as “quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on; submissive.”

“C’mon, John! This world says that we need to be strong. I don’t want to be a doormat.”

Great point! The answer to that statement is “who” we should submit to. We are called to submit to Jesus Christ, not this world. When we become a disciple of the Lord, we are called to “count the cost.” We are called to lay down everything that separates us from being who the Lord wants us to be.

It could be leaving a job, relationships, substance abuse, TV, or anything else holding us back from serving the Lord.

‘As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”’ Luke 9:57-62

This is an area that a lot of people struggle with. They have family relationships their whole life, and God asks them to leave those relationships. What kind of God would do that?

A God that cares about you and them.

Let me paint the picture: you are in church one day because your friend invites you to go. You hear a message that the Lord puts on your heart, decide that you need the Lord in your life, and ask Him in. The question is: Are the people in your life better served by a fully committed person of Christ or a wishy, washy, non-committed “follower” of Christ?

Here’s what I have observed from those fully committed to the Lord: their lives change, and who they are around are better served by that change.

Something to consider about this: if you have been “seeking,” chances are you have been involved in a few “programs for improvement.” The people around you have seen you start and end these programs. You’ve been up, and you’ve been down. And they have seen you give up on these “programs.”

They will say to themselves, “Here we go again.”

But as you persevere, as your life changes, they will see this too. The most incredible testimony to the saving grace of Jesus is your life changed by His hand. This calls for “long-suffering.” This calls for never giving up.

The key here is that those you know who are meant to come along will come along. And those who don’t are not meant to come along.

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

Oxford defines “righteousness” as “the quality of being morally right or justifiable.”

When asked to produce a list of those who are “unrighteous,” there is one name for most that doesn’t make the list. Can you guess whose name it is?

Their own.

We need to define two things as we walk through this life.

The battlefield and the enemy.

The battlefield for the believer is the six inches between our ears. It is our thoughts and assumptions that will do more harm to us than the people we come in contact with.

The enemy is NOT “flesh and blood.” The people around us are not our enemy, no matter how much we think this is the case. The people we view as our enemies are guided by a spirit; that spirit is the true enemy.

What we need to understand about righteousness is that we are to hunger and thirst for our righteousness. We do this by laying down our earthly desires that do not serve the Lord.

To experience the righteousness God wants for us, we need to empty the things in our lives that do not glorify Him.

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

Oxford defines “mercy” as “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.”

When we start to experience God’s righteousness for us, we will become merciful to those around us. And as a by-product of that, we will experience more mercy.

The opposite is that the more sinful we are, the less merciful we will be. This is why dealing with sin in our lives is crucial.

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

Being “pure in heart” means having a heart solely dedicated to God. We receive a “clean heart” when the Lord takes up home in our lives, but a “pure heart” comes from not being distracted by the things of this world.

If we feel a separation from God, we could be crowding Him out by allowing the distractions of this life to get in our way.

It’s easy enough to do. We want to buy a new house, but the bank requires a large down payment, and we need to save some money. So we take a couple of overtime shifts. Unfortunately, the shifts are on Sunday morning. We have now put the world before God.

Anything from this world that takes us away from God will keep us from having a pure heart.

‘Take delight in the Lord , and he will give you the desires of your heart. ‘ Psalms 37:4

‘When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. ‘ James 1:13-15

When we are completely dedicated to the things of the Lord, to the exclusion of everything else, two things happen: our hearts become pure, delight in the Lord, and He will give us the desires of our hearts. (Psalm 37:4)

Then, the opposite of this is true: when we allow our desires to get in front of God, it opens us up to sin. The one thing we are working to get rid of in our lives.

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

Oxford defines “peacemaker” as “a person who brings about peace, especially reconciling adversaries.”

Being a peacemaker in terms of Jesus’ sermon is the ability to help others to come to know God through Jesus Christ.

Keep in mind that the most compelling testimony that we have is our lives changed by God’s Hand. This comes about by the understanding of the verses before this one. If you look at each of the verses we covered, we should look at them like a staircase. We must step through each verse; they build on each other.

I experienced great joy seeing my wife come back into God’s fold. I started crying but they were certiany tears of joy.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ‘

Oxford defines “persecution” as “hostility and ill-treatment, especially based on ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation, or political beliefs.”

This is a fitting definition for the days we live in. According to the Word of God, happiness will only be granted to those persecuted because of righteousness. This does not mean that persecution for any reason is good.

All persecution comes out of ignorance.

If a person who calls themselves a Christian marginalizes anyone based on the groups of people listed in the definition above, they are wrong, and I would question if they are truly saved.

‘I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”’ 1 Corinthians 5:9-13

As Christians, we tend to overlook the sin in our members while we point the dirty end of the stick at the world around us. We’d be more effective if we policed our own, which is our responsibility. It is God’s responsibility to handle the world. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “God will judge those outside.”

When your life starts to lineup with God’s Will, there will be persecution. If you don’t feel persecution, there is a disconnect somewhere.

Go back through the Beatitudes on your knees before God.

Look at the difference in the response that we are to have in the face of persecution, we are called to “rejoice and be glad.”

We are not called to kick against it or fight it. I believe that when we fight against it, we forfeit the blessing that God has in store for us.

Heavenly Father, You call us to look at the wisdom of this world as foolishness. And the wisdom that You give us will look foolish to the people of this world. I pray that You provide me the strength and courage to forsake the things of this world.

I ask You to give me a heart that is in line with Your Will.

I thank You for Your grace, mercy and forgiveness.

In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray, Amen!!