Blessed Life: Unpacking the Beatitudes

Blessed Life: Unpacking the Beatitudes

August 22, 2024

Host: Dr. Isaac Crockett

Guest: Pastor Matt Recker

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 8/22/24. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.

Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.

Isaac Crockett:   Here in America, we are accustomed to hearing a certain phrase that it’s a nice phrase, but sometimes it doesn’t always mean a lot, and that is God bless you. In fact, right now with all the political things going on and the DNC convention and the people running for different offices, we hear a lot of people saying, God bless you and God bless the United States of America. Even people who seem to be pushing an agenda that’s completely against God’s morality and God’s commandments. Or maybe somebody just sneezes and somebody replies, God bless you. Or maybe you see a bumper sticker that just says Blessed. Lots of people talking about that. Well, I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett and my guest on Stand in the Gap today is Pastor Matt Recker, pastor of Heritage Baptist Church, right there in New York City, Manhattan, New York City. Pastor Matt, thank you so much for being on the program today.

Matt Recker:      Thank you, Isaac. It’s great to be back with you on Stand In the Gap once again. Thanks for having me.

Isaac Crockett:   Well, Matt, yesterday you and I were on the phone talking and when we said goodbye to each other, we both said, God bless you to each other because it is a good thing. We do want to bless God. We want God to bless America. We talk about Irvin Berlin’s song, God bless America, but we want America to bless God. But this idea of being blessed or of being blessed of God, it’s actually not super simple maybe. And so I want to talk to you today about the eight B attitudes or the eight statements of blessing from Jesus. Those of you listening today, if you’re not driving, you can turn to Matthew chapter five, first 12 verses there, Matthew five, sermon on the Mount. And the key word there is blessed. It’s a promise for us. So Matt, I’d just love to just dive right into this subject because it is so appropriate for the day and age of which we live. How is this word blessed used in the Bible, in the Old Testament, and really what does this idea of blessed mean for us?

Matt Recker:      Yeah. Well, actually the word blessed means two different things. It could mean that God would put praise upon you or we bless God, we praise God. But the word blessed in the beatitudes is a different word, a different language word, both in the Hebrew and the Greek. So we’re going to be talking about the blessed from the standpoint of the beatitudes and this word that Jesus uses to literally introduce his first major discourse. Blessed are the porn spirit, and this is what he was preaching throughout the synagogues of Galilee in the early part of his ministry. This word is used not in a vacuum. The listeners would understand this word because it was a common word used and it would also attract the listener. So it was used in the Old Testament, first time it was used in Deuteronomy chapter 33 verse 29, and it says, happy art thou O Israel, who is like unto the O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help and who is the sword of thy excellency.

Matt Recker:      I’m not an enemy shall be found liars under thee, thou shall tread upon their high places. So that’s the word blessed from the Old Testament standpoint. It means happy, it’s translated happy there, and so happy people are saved. He says, you’re saved, you’re shielded, you’re protected. God is the shield of our help and we’re strong. We have a sword of strength, if you will. So that’s the word from the Old Testament. And also this word is the very first word of the Hebrew hymn book that Hebrew hymn book begins with the word blessed. Psalm one verse one, blessed is the man and so happy is that man. And that goes on to express one’s relationship with God. So blessed, Jesus uses this word to describe a person who is saved and who has a relationship with God and that’s a happy person.

Isaac Crockett:   And I think we all want that, but a lot of people think they want that in the world’s view. They want to be happy, but they probably don’t understand what it really means. Can you talk to us about the difference between being truly biblically happy? We talk about a biblical worldview here versus what the world offers for happiness. And

Matt Recker:      I heard that in the intro of the program and I believe that the beatitudes does really establish a biblical worldview for us. So really what is happiness? There are like two over 200, 290 some odd, or I’m sure even more weighs that philosophers say you can be happy, but here’s Jesus’s way of happiness. So first I think we do need to understand what is happiness. I would say that happiness is when you find enjoyment in something good. No. So you could be happy with your family, you could be happy when you get married. You’re happy when you have a baby. You’re happy when you’re with friends. You’re happy at a baseball game when your team wins. And that’s all great. But ultimate happiness is finding enjoyment in the ultimate good, who is God himself, our creator. So happiness is finding enjoyment in the ultimate good.

Matt Recker:      That’s a good definition of happiness. And then that results in an inner sense of fulfillment and contentment that’s not affected by the circumstances. So the three keywords of happiness that I kind of try to remember in my mind are enjoyment, fulfillment, and contentment. And that true happiness is unaffected by the circumstances of the world. And that’s completely different from the way of this world because the world’s way of happiness is finding happiness through my happiness or through my circumstances and the world’s way of happiness. They really have dead end ways of happiness that are based on what we could call almost when and then thinking. In other words, when I have friends, then I’ll be happy when I have a job, then I’ll be happy when I’m in love, then I’ll be happy When I acquire those things, experience that pleasure, achieve that success, then I’ll be happy. So that’s not Jesus’s way of happiness.

Isaac Crockett:   Matt, in just a few moments, I’m going to actually have you read through much of this beatitude section in the Bible, but we see throughout it blessed. It is blessed, it is blessed. Can you kind of tell how this word really connects each different thing, each one of the beatitudes to each other, these eight blessings?

Matt Recker:      Yeah. So each beatitude is connected with this word, and it’s a powerful word. It’s a riveting word, it’s an attractive word. And so Jesus is using this to attract and draw his listeners because everybody wants happiness. We all want to be happy, but we need to seek happiness in the right way. So I call this word a Christ-like word. It is because it describes the character of Christ. It is the central word of the beatitudes because it’s the first word of each beatitude, but it’s also a connecting word. So the word blessed as the first word connects one beatitude to the other. And we should look at the beatitudes not as separate grains of sand, but more like a gold chain of grace. Now, the beatitudes are not given to us. Jesus is not telling us how to be saved. He’s really describing the character of those who are saved.

Matt Recker:      And so that word blessed is like a golden chain and the chain connects with the first and the last beatitude by the promise of the beatitude. So there’s one promise that’s repeated in all the eight beatitudes, and it’s the first one where he says, blessed are the porn spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then the eighth B attitude is blessed are they? When men will revile you, persecute you. And then he says, the promise of that is their reward is great, and for theirs also is the kingdom of heaven. And that’s in verse 10.

Isaac Crockett:   Amen. So we are looking at the greatest blessing of all the Kingdom of Heaven and talking with Pastor Matt Recker from New York City, heritage Baptist Church, we have so much more to cover here, but talking about a true blessed life and real happiness in Jesus Christ. We’ll be right back on Stand Standing the gap today. Welcome back to the program. I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett. I’m here with Pastor Matt Recker on the program today, and we are talking about true happiness, biblical happiness, what we call blessedness. And we are looking at Matthew chapter five, the first 12 verses there, sermon on the Mount. And Matt, you’ve done a great job just really opening up this word, blessed or blessed and what it means for us as Christians. And if you’re listening and you don’t have this peace of God that we’re talking about because you’ve never accepted Christ as savior, we talk about it often on this program, but I would love to encourage you to make that decision.

Isaac Crockett:   Don’t put that off. If you have accepted Christ as savior, don’t allow the things of this world to overcome you. We have so much on our phones, even on the radio and TV that makes us anxious or fearful and some people just want to just shut it all out and stick their head in the sand and pretend like nothing’s going on. Other people want to tune into it and allow it to make them go crazy almost. But as Christians, we know that we are in this world as pilgrims and strangers, but we are not of this world and we have this union to God through Jesus Christ that is a blessed relationship that takes us to remember that we are headed to the kingdom of heaven and we have this eternal place that we are looking for and we have God’s spirit working in us even now.

Isaac Crockett:   And so there’s so much to be excited about, so much to be happy about, even when things around us seem to be getting darker and darker, we’re not surprised. So Matt, I want to go back to asking you some questions about what we often call the bee attitudes or the blessedness passage, but could you go ahead and maybe read some of that passage that we’ve been talking about? Again, if you’re listening today, I would encourage you to turn to Matthew chapter five. If you’re not driving, if you’re driving, keep your eyes on the road. But everybody else that’s able to on your phone or in your Bible, Matthew chapter five, and Matt, I’ll have you just go ahead and maybe read through some of that before I ask you more of these questions.

Matt Recker:      Sure, Isaac. And can I just first say as well, if there’s any listeners who live in the New York City area, we’d love to have them visit our church Heritage Baptist Church in Manhattan, and they could go onto our website@hbcnyc.org and find out our meeting place. But we’re down on Sunday morning in the Greenwich Village area. We’d love to have any listeners visit with us. And yeah, these beatitudes are so powerful, Isaac, and I’d be so happy to read them as Jesus really explained step by step here, that true happiness does not depend on what’s happening around us, but really what’s happening inside of us, of our character. So Matthew chapter five, he opened his mouth and Jesus taught them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

Matt Recker:      Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be exceeding. Glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Isaac Crockett:   Amen. We’re approaching a time I think even in our own country where we will see more and more of that reviling of the way of the Bible, those with the biblical worldview. Tomorrow I’ll be Lord willing talking with George Barna on the program about our evangelicals, really Bible believing are there really as many people who are evangelicals as what we think there are. And I think it might be surprising some of the statistics, but this is something that we can rejoice. And so no matter what’s going on in the world, no matter how scary things seem, no matter what, as you said Matt, the circumstances, our faith is built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. That’s where our hope lies and that’s where the blessings lie. So as we look at this going through this connection of these beatitudes, and I love how you said they’re more of a chain than they are individual pieces like sand, is there a significance do you see as you’ve been studying this so much map preaching on it, teaching on it, but is there significance to the order of how this has been put? And maybe you could explain why you see that or what you see there.

Matt Recker:      Yeah, absolutely. There is a definite order here. I like what Charles Spurgeon says about the beatitudes. He says that they are like a ladder of light and each beatitude is resting on grace. And Martin Lloyd Jones talks about the importance of this order as well. And I’m reading some of the old Puritans, Jeremiah Burrows and Watson on them, and they’re all in agreement that there is an order to these beatitudes that each one depends on the one that goes before it and the last will be the result of having the others. So if you just jump in at the last one and say blessed or you men revile you and persecute you, you’ll say that’s ridiculous. But when you’ve lived and blended in the other beatitudes, you build up to that, then you could find happiness even in the most dire of all circumstances. So they are like a stepladder of light up to God, but in a sense they’re kind of like down because it’s like a step ladder down in a way that leads you to humility and a life of humility and joy in the Lord. So these beatitudes are not based on the joy that this world gives, but the joy that is in the ultimate good that I said earlier, finding enjoyment in God, contentment and fulfillment in him.

Isaac Crockett:   And so many times we go seeking for something else that will make it better. As we look at these gifts, is it possible that some people will just kind of get one of them or two of them, kind of like maybe spiritual gifts where it says God gave some this and some that, or is this something that we as Christians can expect to be able to have all of these blessings?

Matt Recker:      Yeah, they are not like the spiritual gifts where we know that we’re not going to have every spiritual gift. Thank God for the gifts that each of us has. Spurgeon for example, in his sermon on blessed are the merciful. He says, well, how are we going to have mercy in our life? And he goes back to the first beatitude. You have to first be poor spirit. You’re not going to be merciful until your first poor in spirit. Then you have to mourn over your sin and then be meek and then hunger, thirst for righteousness. Then you can have mercy in your life. So we are to have all the beatitudes. They are not like the spiritual gifts, but we are to seek to blend them all into our character. This is Christian character displayed.

Isaac Crockett:   Do you have any tips on somebody listening? They say, that sounds good Pastor Matt. I really like the idea of that, but how can I do that? I struggle with just even one of these things. How can I see all of these things fit together into my life and really be the kind of Christian that Jesus is preaching about?

Matt Recker:      Well, I believe the way to actually experience these beatitudes is that we live them out before God and that we say them, for example, this first one, blessed or the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That is we have to have the right attitude toward ourselves. We must be humble and poor in spirit and that’s who we are before God. Not I don’t compare myself to you in this, but I’m before God and seeing myself in his sight as poor in spirit and blessed are they that mn, that’s me before God. So we must read these beatitudes framing our worldview that is so corrupt and this world is so corrupt and will never teach us happiness through this method or way that Jesus does, but they all fit together building upon one another. So the right attitude toward myself is being poured in spirit.

Matt Recker:      The right attitude toward my sin and my sorrows is to mourn the right attitude toward my reactions to circumstances is meekness the right attitude toward God? I must hunger and thirst for him and his righteousness, the right attitude to my neighbor. I’m merciful and kind, loving in action, right attitude to my daily walk. I’m to live a holy, a pure life, a right attitude toward injustice, some to seek peace, and then a right attitude toward persecution against our faith is that we can rejoice that the kingdom of heaven is mine and the reward in heaven will be ours. So they all fit together. They all build one upon another.

Isaac Crockett:   Amen. Well, I want to ask another question here tomorrow I’ll be interviewing George Barna about some of the declines going on within our churches and he uses a word that you’ve mentioned. Some of the old puritan preachers whom I love to read, I quote from them and read from them, but he uses a word I don’t hear a lot in modern day churches, and that’s the word depravity as he describes our country, as he describes even some of our social institutions and churches describing the politicians that have gone so many are corrupt, so many journalists are dishonest and it leads to this decline in a country that used to reverence God and fear God and enjoy more blessings. We talk about God bless America, but if we have turned our backs on him, he can’t. So I’m just curious. What you see in about a minute here is all we have left, but what you see in the moral decline in America as we have rejected the beatitudes.

Matt Recker:      Yeah. Well, Isaac, we realize we’re living in an anti-God culture. We’re a post-Christian culture now. So we’re not going to be, our faith is not going to be built up by watching the news, going to school and listening to politicians generally. So you talk about corrupt politicians. So basically politicians often want, for example, they often want us to envy those who have more and then they want to buy our vote that they’ll give us something so that we could have more of what the people who have more than me that I’m envy of, that I could have and be like them. See, that’s not finding my joy in the Lord. That’s finding my joy through stuff. Then think of journalists. Journalism often is working to get us to hate the other side. There’s so much hatred in our culture, especially toward Donald Trump. But nevertheless, I won’t get off into politics. My opinions are on my own on that. But there’s dishonesty in journalism today just feeding hatred. And then when we think of social institutions like education, and

Isaac Crockett:   Matt, I’m going to jump in there real quick, but yeah, you’re right. We’re living in a culture of hate instead of true happiness. We’re going to talk about how we can find the foundations of true happiness when we come back on standing the gap today. Welcome back to the program and before we go back to talking about our topic today, the Beatitudes and seeing how we can be truly blessed, truly happy with a biblical worldview today I want to just say how much I appreciate staying in the gap today. I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett. I’m talking with Pastor Matt Recker and that’s one of the neat things about staying in the gap today and all of our stand in the gap media is that we are part of the ministry of the American Pastors Network. And so the host that you hear at many of our guests that you’ll hear are pastors or preachers, evangelists.

Isaac Crockett:   And it’s so exciting to be a part of a ministry like this. If you’re just joining us right now, you can go back and hear all of this, go to any podcast player just about all of them. We are on it. If you look up Stand in the Gap today, you can download our app. I really like that Stand in the Gap app. It has our radio, our tv, our one minute program, our weekend program, everything archived on there as well as transcripts, free transcripts, the whole thing. The app is free. And so just a great blessing. We’re talking about blessings today, but a really helpful thing. And so I’m just excited here. I’m Pastor Crockett. I pastor a little church on the border of New York and Pennsylvania up near Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, Corning New York, and I’m talking to Pastor Matt Recker of Heritage Baptist Church in Manhattan, right there in the middle of New York City in the middle of all that’s going on there.

Isaac Crockett:   And if you’re looking for a church in New York City, and I would encourage you to look at Heritage Baptist or maybe you just want to listen to some of their sermons. Maybe you’re not in New York City, but you want to go to their website. I’ll ask Matt to give that in just a moment here. Or maybe you want to listen to other programs that Matt has been on before. You can find that at Stand in the gap media.org or our Stand the Gap app. Some of you might remember Micah Johnson from his church who has been on our program before talking about homosexuality and biblical worldview on that and how to deal with people who are struggling in that area and different things so much you can do with our online tools that are free, that are out there to help you in your walk with the Lord. So Matt, I would love to have you just again, give the website for your church where people can see about your ministry, and then I’m going to start pestering you with a bunch more questions about how we can find true happiness. And really I want to talk to you about some things I’m going through with some people in my church and all of us have gone through it sometime in our life. But first, could you tell us just quickly that website for your church and maybe something about the ministry there at Heritage?

Matt Recker:      Sure. Thank you, Isaac. Our website is hbc nyc.org. So those are all initials for Heritage Baptist Church, New York City. And so that’s hbc nyc.org. And then if you go there, there’s a YouTube icon. If you just click that you go to our YouTube page where I’m actually preaching on the Beatitudes now. So I have sermons on that as well as other series that we’ve done. And you’ll see the video as well as hear the messages or we are on sermon audio. A lot of our messages go up onto sermon audio as well. Yes. And we’d love to have any listeners visit us at Heritage Baptist Church. We are right in Manhattan. So we have people from all the different boroughs coming to our church and we have all the colors, all the cultures, all the backgrounds, and we welcome all people to come and hear the word of God, to worship our great triune God and our Lord Jesus Christ, the king of kings.

Isaac Crockett:   Matt, we’re reading this passage from Matthew five, sermon on the Mount and one of the first things, well the first part of it is someone who to be blessed to have this beatitude is the person who is poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And I’ve met several people lately in my community, I know you have their New York city as well, who are just, they’re broken and different things have led them to what feels to them like the lowest point in their life. And the Lord takes them and encourages them and gives them true freedom. But what does this passage mean when it talks about poor in spirit? Could you kind of open that up for us a little bit?

Matt Recker:      Yeah, sure. So we talked about that word, blessed Isaac and that’s this attractive word. And then after this attractive word, then he goes to an alarming word like poor who wants to be poor or who wants to mourn, who wants meekness in this world? So those are alarming words because it seems like an absurd way of attaining happiness. But Jesus said, the first and foundational way for us to really have happiness is to have this spirit of poverty before God. Again, this is before God. So what it’s not is renouncing material wealth or taking a vow of poverty. Now, the Catholic church has kind of emphasized that, but that’s not what poor and spirit is. It’s not being poor spirited. Some people have bad spirits, they’re angry and patient and bitter. So that’s not being porn spirit. And then being porn spirit is not feeling like you’re worse than others.

Matt Recker:      Like, oh, I’m so dumb, I’m so ugly, I’m so stupid. It’s not who you are before other men. We go before God and renounce all self-centeredness, realizing our sinfulness. So we renounce our self-righteousness, our self-confidence, our self-reliance, our self-esteem and say, I’m not smarter than you God. I need your way and my life. So being poor in spirit. So if somebody who’s materially poor lacks the necessities for survival and somebody who’s poor in spirit lacks the spiritual necessities for survival now and eternal life. So the one poor in spirit renounces all self. And that’s what the world emphasizes to be happy. You have to have, you know what I’m saying? But being poor in spirit is renouncing all that and say, I need to depend on the wealth of another on God himself, who is ultimate good, ultimate grace, ultimate glory, and I trust in him.

Isaac Crockett:   Well, let’s go to this next one, mourning. Let me kind of put this on you. How can that be foundational to a true happy life, a blessed life? And maybe what are some of the important principles about mourning and finding comfort in it that you could walk us through in that beatitude of blessed? Are they that mourn?

Matt Recker:      Yeah, because life has hurt and pain in it. We’re all sinners. And so if we’re going to be happy, happiness does come through mourning. Just think of it, look at it this way. If a loved one dies, we have a funeral. Now there’s a number of reasons why we have funerals. We want to honor the dead. But you know what? There is a healthy aspect of going to a funeral and mourning and weeping even when a loved one dies, there’s healing in that. So we’ve all failed God, we’ve all sinned, we all have gone through pains, and it’s not wrong. It’s actually healing to more. And again, I think Jeremiah Burrow says this, he says, there are more murmurers than mourners. And I put it this way, it’s easier to murmur and complain about our hard times, but that’s not the way of happiness to murmur and complain about our hard times. The way to happiness is to mourn and confess our hard hearts to God. And so the way to happiness isn’t first just going to the mountaintop of victory, but it’s going to the valley of mourning. And we mourn before God in our heart, confessing to him that we need his love to fill our hearts and our lives. And then blessed are they that morn. Why? Because they’ll be comforted. And we’ll maybe talk about that in a moment as well.

Isaac Crockett:   Let’s go ahead and go right there. What are the ways that God comforts us through mourning? It says it results in God’s comfort right here. They shall be comforted. How is that possible? What are maybe some of the ways that God comforts us and turns our life around?

Matt Recker:      Yeah, comfort is not a weak word. It’s a very powerful word, and it’s also rooted in the Old Testament. For example, Isaiah chapter 40 from chapter 40 through 66, 1 of the great passages in the word of God filled with amazing prophecy. The theme of that whole passage is comfort. And the power of God’s comfort is that he comes alongside us. So when we mourn over our sin or our sorrows, and I think we could say mourn, we can mourn over both of those and we then can experience God himself coming alongside us to comfort us. And when we look at that, Isaiah and throughout Isaiah, we see that God’s comfort brings redeeming power, gives rebuilding power. And God says he was going to comfort Israel, for example, in that passage by turning their ashes and removing their ashes and rebuilding their cities and making those waste places like the Garden of Eden once again. So he was going to rebuild them from defeat into deliverance. And that mourning also turns our life to rejoicing and that we can go from mourning to dancing. God, when we mourn, then we can ultimately rejoice and dance.

Isaac Crockett:   Amen. Well, what about meekness? We running a little bit low on time here, but meekness as a beatitude, why is that essential?

Matt Recker:      Yeah. Well, meek is, I call this the misunderstood beatitude because people think meekness is being spineless or a pushover, but really meekness is power under control. When you think of meekness, think of a powerful racehorse that is trained to be controlled by a jockey to win the race. So I mean, you could be a, many horses are not, you cannot bridle them. They’re powerful, but they’re not under control. So meekness is power under control, and it is the grace God gives us to control our reactions so that we’re not controlled by our emotions. So many people are controlled by their anger. They let other people control them. They’ll say, you’re making me mad, you’re making me this, you’re making me that. That’s not meekness. So meekness is essential to our happiness because it gets to the question of who controls us and of course the spirit of God. And God ought to be the one who controls our emotions and our spirit.

Isaac Crockett:   And that is part of that blessing, that beatitude is allowing God to be in control of our lives. No matter what happens, we seek first the kingdom of God. As we see in Matthew chapter six, we seek first the kingdom of God. We look for his ways. No matter what is going on in the circumstances around us, we find blessing. We find true joy, true happiness in Jesus Christ. We have more questions for Pastor Matt. A lot more to go here on Stand in the Gap today. Welcome back to the program. I’m Pastor Isaac Crockett and I’m talking with our good friend and return guest, pastor Matt Racker from Heritage Baptist Church right in New York City. And Matt, there’s so much we could say about Matthew chapter five. Of course people can go to your YouTube channel, see the sermons. You’re preaching on it right now that the attitudes. But let’s go to Matthew five verse six, and it talks about an attitude towards God. How do we experience according to Jesus’s teachings here in the Beatitudes? How do we experience true satisfaction? Because so many people are looking for it and they’re coming up short. If they don’t have a biblical worldview, if they don’t have Jesus Christ in their heart, what is the way to find true satisfaction?

Matt Recker:      Yeah, thank you Isaac. And again, thanks for having me on the program today. Can I just back up real quick though before I answer that? I just feel like there are people out there today who maybe are going through mourning, maybe they’ve lost a loved one. Even today, one of the dear brothers that I know from our church, he lost his mom. And it’s difficult to go through life, but I would just say for anyone who’s mourning, remember these simple things. One, God measures out whatever sorrows you’re experiencing with his love. Two, God will mix in blessings with every affliction. So the way you can remember that is the ends he measures and he mixes in blessings. And then Isaiah 63, 9, God himself shares in our sufferings that we endure in all their affliction. He was afflicted, says Isaiah, so get him back to this matter of satisfaction.

Matt Recker:      And we can’t have satisfaction until we first mourn. So that’s kind of why I said that. But I don’t know about you, Isaac, but when I think of that beatitude of blessed are the ones who will be truly filled. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. And that’s really filled to full, filled to satisfaction. And I think the rolling stones hit a nerve in my generation with that song. I can’t get no satisfaction. You’ve heard that too, even though you’re a bit younger than me. Yep. Yeah. And that song, the words, I actually look at the words recently, the lyrics are really stupid, but the tune drew people into it and the chorus, I can’t get no satisfaction. And then they repeat that I can’t. And I try and I try and I try and I try, but they can’t get no satisfaction even though they have money, power, and fame.

Matt Recker:      And the reason is simple, because they were not seeking satisfaction through righteousness. Jesus said, blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, not unrighteousness. So that’s the ultimate way to get satisfaction. And that righteousness is centered in Jesus Christ. If I could say his saving righteousness, the righteousness of Christ that we have in salvation and his sanctifying righteousness, the righteousness of a holy life through the Holy Spirit. That’s how we have satisfaction. And the Gen Z generation might want to interpret that the attitude as far as blessed or day the hunger and thirsty after just justice. But we can’t just have our warped view of what’s right and what’s wrong of what’s justice without first knowing Jesus Christ and knowing that we need his death on the cross to save us from our sins.

Isaac Crockett:   And that will lead us to this next one in verse seven about showing mercy. What is so significant that if we want to be blessed, we need to mourn and we need to go through that even grieving our sins, and then we need to seek after his righteousness, but then we need to be a part of showing mercy to others. Why is that so significant?

Matt Recker:      So each beatitude has such an unusual and unique element to it. But I like this beatitude because it’s the first beatitude that Jesus gives that if we sow this particular beatitude, which is mercy, we reap that very same character trait, which is mercy. And so blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Now, these beatitudes that in the middle from the first down to the eighth, there is a sowing and reaping element to each one. In other words, if you sow mourning, you’ll reap comfort. If you sow meekness, you’ll reap inheriting the, so there’s a sowing and reaping. But this one, if you sow mercy, you get back mercy. And the reason is we need mercy on the day of judgment especially. And so I especially like James chapter two, verse 13. What an amazing passage. It says that mercy rejoices in judgment. So when I’m merciful, which is showing love in action to other people, that’s kind of the simple way I define mercy, is putting love to action to those who are destitute or afflicted or those who are needy. Show mercy, love and action. And then if we’re merciful, we’ll receive mercy, especially on the day of judgment.

Isaac Crockett:   Amen. Another one here in verse eight is one that seems to be lacking in so much of our society, but how does Matthew five eight really make God become real in our daily lives?

Matt Recker:      And Matthew five eight is where it says, blessed of the pure and heart, for they shall see God. And obviously that if we are saved and our sins are taken away, we will see the Lord at the end of our life experience, we will be with the Lord in heaven. And what greater joy, I mean, if it’s joy being in heaven, if it’s joy seeing Jesus and being like him, then obviously it would make me happier to be more like Jesus now, right? To be pure in heart, if heaven is a place of joy, I mean that’s what we believe. Heaven is perfect joy, right? Amen. So there must be joy in holiness because heaven is a holy place, a holy unhappy place. And so blessed are the pure. In Hartford, they shall see God. But I believe when we’re pure in heart now, we’ll see the Lord not physically with our eyes necessarily at all, but that we’ll experience God actually at work in our lives.

Matt Recker:      So we could say the Lord did that. The Lord answered that prayer. The Lord led me in this way. The Lord provided this for me. And we see God at work in our daily lives. I mean, there’s some people that I know, Isaac, and I’m sure you do as well. They just see God at work in their lives. They see the Lord behind everything. And other people are like, where’s God? Why isn’t he doing anything for, you know what I’m saying? Well, we have to have purity of heart, pure motives, and we’ll see the Lord to directing our steps, answering our prayers.

Isaac Crockett:   Amen. I’m hoping we have time to get these last two questions in Matt, but the next one is Matthew five nine, and we hear so much about conflict resolution, whether it’s trying to get people to come together and make a truce for wars, or whether it’s just people that are upset with other people in our own nation. What does Matthew five nine have to do with resolving conflict?

Matt Recker:      Yeah, blessed are the peacemakers ultimately what gave us peace with God. Isaac, how did we attain peace with God through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross where he took our sins upon himself on the tree. And so our sins were imputed to him, his righteousness was imputed to us. So we can have peace with God and we’re forgiven. So ultimately, to be a peacemaker, we have to know we have peace with God. We’re forgiven of him, so then we can be forgiving toward others. And to be a peacemaker, the way I say it is there is no way anyone can sin worse against me than I have sinned against God and God has forgiven me. So who am I not to be a forgiving person toward you? And that’s kind of how I see that in general.

Isaac Crockett:   Amen. Well, Matt, thank you so much. This has been great getting through so much of this important sermon. Jesus Sermon on the Mount. We’re at the close of our program, but if you’re listening, it takes us right up to the persecution and the being reviled and the being rejected of this world. And that’s exactly what happened to Jesus Christ. And yet he gave him himself for us. And if you have never accepted Christ as your savior, won’t you do that so that you can be blessed and find true peace and happiness. Well, Matt Rucker, thank you so much Pastor Matt Rucker for being on with us. For those of you listening, thank you so much for listening. I hope that you will share this program with other people. And until next time, I hope that you will stand in the gap for truth, wherever you.