So this summer here at Foundry is the summer of the sermon on the Mount. If you've been with us the past couple of weeks, you'll know that we've been exploring these three chapters of Matthew, Matthew 5, 6, and 7 contained in those words, chapters are the words of Jesus. And the first week that we started this conversation, we read all of those words together, sort of soaking in the words of our Lord and Savior. And then last week, Chad had a conversation, these opening words of this piece of scripture, and we talked about the setting.
We talked about that Jesus taught from the mountaintop. And the way that Jesus taught was actually a little bit different in the ways that the other scribes and Pharisees of the time taught. He taught sitting down. And so for this series, for this conversation, we're going to be teaching and having this conversation sitting down.
And also woven throughout our conversation, we've been alluding to the fact that the Gospel writer Matthew was attempting and writing and compiling this sermon, was attempting to somehow strategically order the sayings and the teachings of Jesus. And so in some real sense, the sermon on the mount is Jesus' greatest hits. And so for this summer, we're going to be continuing this conversation on the sermon on the mount. And Chad's going to be associating each one of the passages that we dive into with a billboard hit with a classic song.
And I know that's going to be a really fun thing, an important way to engage this really important conversation. But this morning, I'm going to go ahead and break that pattern, because if there's one thing that I have learned from Pastor Chad Brooks over the last year, it's how to break the rules a little bit when you need to. And so I'm going to break the pattern just a little bit, because I just can't help but point out the fact that Matthew 5, verses 3 through 12, really just remind me of a Buzzfeed article. Now, if you're not familiar with what Buzzfeed is, it's a website.
It's Buzzfeed.com. And Buzzfeed prides itself on having the most shareable news and entertainment headlines. And because they pride themselves on being spread all over Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, many of their articles show up in list form, kind of like those crazy articles up there. Well, our scripture today appears in list form.
And so in some sense, it really could be presented in Buzzfeed list form if that wasn't quite so irreverent. But y'all, what we have this morning in our scripture is a list. It's a list of eight blessings given by Jesus. And these eight blessings often known together as the beatitudes are important words.
Yeah, they appear in list form. Yeah, they're kind of succinct in short in some way. But they really, really pack a punch. You might have been in church before and actually have heard an entire series preached on the Beatitudes or on these blessings with each week given over to one individual line, because each one has so much to say to us.
But we're not going to do that this morning, obviously. Instead, we're going to explore them all together. We're going to look at what Jesus has to say to us just as he said them to his disciples gathered on that mountaintop. And in looking at these blessings, we're going to talk about the power and the purpose of blessing in our world and in our Christian lives.
And so I think the best way to start that off is just by going ahead and reading these blessings. So it's going to be Matthew chapter 5 verses 3 through 12 as usual be on the screen behind me or you can follow on your phone or you can simply just listen to the words of Jesus this morning. He says to us, 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 who thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they will receive 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 for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute 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 in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And so y'all we have here eight blessings. If you know if you've been here long enough you will know that I am a pretty big fan of words. In fact I use fancy and complicated ones a little bit too often so I'm going to go ahead and apologize for that.
But I really just think it's important for us to know what we're talking about. And so when we're talking about blessing this is what we mean. I looked it up and Maryam Webster and this is what it said. It said blessing is a speech act or it's something that we or someone says that brings good upon that person to which it is said.
It is something that brings good on to someone or something or some circumstance. And that obviously makes a lot of sense with the way that we often use the term blessing. When somebody sneezes what do we say? Bless you.
And then also our culture has really in recent times picked up on this language of blessing. I don't know if you've noticed but the hashtag blessed has swept the internet in recent times. And both of those are appropriate and fine things for the way that they're used but I do have to say that neither one really does justice to the power of blessing. Y'all when blessings are ushered when blessings are taken seriously they can really transform situations and transform people.
Y'all blessing when issued from one person to another, from one heart to another, from one person to one community or from a community to a person. When something like that happens on the level of deep relationship something truly positive and powerful happens amongst us. And the people who understood this really well and who still understand this really well are the Celtic people. The people who gave the flavor and who give the flavor to the northern British Isles.
All these people have a society and have a society almost built on blessing. Y'all blessings were passed down from one generation to another weaving their life together. There for the Celts there is a blessing for every occasion and for every circumstance. For every season of life and especially for those places of transition that we experience as humans.
I personally have a Celtic book of blessings that I keep on my bedside table and make a part of my prayer rhythms. And just to give you an idea of what's included in that book of blessings there's blessings for morning time. There's blessings for the literal change of seasons. There's blessings for entering into parenthood and there's blessings for entering into death.
Y'all there's blessings for every season, for every occasion, times of suffering and times of celebration. Now blessing is powerful because it invites goodness onto people, onto us right where we find ourselves in whatever circumstance or in whatever situation. But I have to say probably the most powerful thing, the most important thing about blessing is not only do they recognize and invite goodness onto a current situation but blessing points to the possibilities of the future. And so now that we know a little bit more about what blessing is I just wanted to turn our attention back to what we just read together.
There's blessings that we read together this morning. And it's very clear I think that those blessings, the Beatitudes follow this pattern. They name a circumstance. They talk about someone in a particular state of being and then point to the future.
I mean that the structure is bless those who are for they will, right? That's the structure of all of the eight that we have. But something breaks that pattern, something breaks that structure and what that thing is is the person who said them. The person who said them is in fact Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
And so y'all these aren't just words, aren't just something on a piece of paper but they're a window into a new world, a window into a new reality. Last week Chad said that the Sermon on the Mount is about expansion, about expanding our vision of the world to be a Jesus-sized vision of the world. And so to say that in just a little bit different of a way. Now the Sermon on the Mount is in fact about expansion.
The Beatitudes teach us and show us to expand our field of vision that we might see God's world breaking into our own. And it's these Beatitudes and these blessings that give us a clue as to what that world looks like, what God's world looks like, a world that in some cases is radically different than the one that we find ourselves in and the one that we walk around in every day. I mean when we think about it, Jesus in this passage of scripture, blesses circumstances and situations and types of people, not usually exalted or lifted up by the world. Y'all he blesses those who are poor in spirit, those who are grieving, those who are meek and those who are hungry.
He doesn't lift up those with power by the world standards. Instead he blesses those who seek peace. Those who extend mercy at every chance they get. And those who are committed to following him wherever it is that he might lead.
And so we who are committed to following him. I think it's the case that when we start soaking in these words, these words of Jesus' blessing to his disciples gathered there and to us, his disciples gathered here. I think we get a glimpse of three things. I think we see something about who God is.
First, I think we see that God tends to take what isn't really seen as worthy by the world, what's not seen as particularly important or impressive and uses those things to reveal his glory. We see that God takes ordinary things and ordinary places and through those ordinary things and in and through them by the power of his spirit creates extraordinary things. Now we see that God takes mess, messy lives and messy situations and messy people and uses them as agents of his work in our world. Now I say these things indeed because of the scripture we read this morning and what it has to say to us.
I say these things because I think those are woven throughout this whole story. Look for it, I think you'll find it. I also say this because I'm sitting here in this room with you all this morning. Now God has taken a gym, a gym, something not seen as particularly worthy or impressive by the world and made it a place where God's glory is revealed.
Now God has taken ordinary things, shared meals and backyard gatherings. Now God has taken ordinary places, cigar shops and coffee shops and gas stations and through those places and in the people that have gathered there have created something extraordinary. And yeah, God has taken messy lives and messy situations and messy people and made us agents of his work and his love and his transformation here in this community. I don't want to overstate something or exaggerate but I really feel confident in saying that we have been blessed.
That God's world has broken into ours here in Washita Parish and God's world is going to keep breaking in. And so with that, with knowing that, with saying that, with living that I think a few questions remain. How is it that we are going to keep sitting at the feet of Jesus, sitting at the feet of Jesus so that we can indeed receive his blessing? How are we going to keep being his disciples ready to follow him wherever he might lead, ready to be pulled into God's future?
Or as we like to say around here, how is it that we are going to keep following so closely behind Jesus that we're stepping on his flip-flops? Now I, as you know, many of you know, today all will be sending me forth into a new season and to a new adventure. So I'm not going to be directly a part of answering those questions here in this particular place with you all. But to those of you who have made so much space for me, who have loved me, who have taught me in ways you know and ways you don't even know, y'all, I have a lot of hopes.
I have a lot of prayers. I have a lot of dreams for you all and what will be in coming season even as we go in different directions. And so in this moment of personal privilege that I'm taking this morning, I just wanted to share some of those with you all in a form of blessing of some sorts. And so here we have it.
May you all remain grounded in the ultimate truth that our God took the risk of moving into our neighborhood. May you all remain grounded in that truth so you might continue transforming this neighborhood, this community alongside him. May you never forget that this is a movement of Jesus, that even as you grow and develop and change and move into new seasons, may you remember that you were always sent out, out into his world as his representatives. You know, may laughter continue to fill these hallways and wherever it is that you find yourselves, that you may keep taking the mission seriously but not yourselves too seriously.
May you always be willing to get dirty, whether it's in the waters of a flood or crawling around on the floor, setting up a place or teaching our kids about Jesus. Because it's in those messy places, in those dirty and unexpected places that heaven has and heaven will keep breaking through. May Sunday morning or any time you gather and worship be always about Jesus. May every act of preparation, of prayer, of praise, of community be motivated by the one that we always seek to encounter.
May you who have together created something out of nothing, you who alongside the Holy Spirit have made a vision come to life and touch so many people's lives, may you never lose your capacity to dream, to imagine and to see what might be. I'll make the vision by which you live, never simply become something written on the side of a cup, but may Jesus is big enough always come to life through you all. May it be so. Amen.