A Sermon of Attitudes (pt. 6)

As we continue through the Beatitudes, or the attitudes of which the man of approved of God will possess, we’ve learned how an individual is able to approach God and now how to continue to live faithfully before Him. The one described as “pure in heart,” would be the one who is pure, sincere and clean in heart; the one who thinks, feels and purposes to do that which is right.

The heart is at the very seat of our being, for example: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). Jesus taught: “…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Mt. 12:34). Later, Jesus continued: “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Mt. 15:18-19).  Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount teaching those “would be” disciples the kind of attitudes they should possess in their lives in order to be pleasing to God.

The idea here is that we should live pure lives, which begins with a pure heart; therefore, that which is seen in us is true, no hypocrisy. James wrote: “a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways” (Jms. 1:8). Our hearts become “pure in obeying the truth” (1 Pet. 1:22) and should remain so as “we walk in the light” (1 Jn. 1:7). The great blessing: “they shall see God.”

-Wayne Rodgers

A Sermon of Attitudes (pt. 2)

Those who are open to truly hearing God’s Word would be considered “poor in spirit.” This seems to be the attitude where one’s walk with God begins. Without this attitude of humility and reverence, one will not likely seek the kingdom nor the righteousness of God (Mt. 6:33). Those who have a sense of their own unworthiness before a holy God are most likely to be “poor in spirit.”

Humility has blessings to be enjoyed by the disciple of Christ. James reminds us of the same thought: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up” (Jms. 4:10). Jesus taught that the blessing of this attitude is “the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:3). When we learn to see ourselves as God sees us, we can adjust our attitude so that we might not only enter into the kingdom of heaven through humble obedience, but also be meet for the Master’s use.

-Wayne Rodgers

A Sermon of Attitudes (pt. 1)

The Beatitudes are a favorite study of many and rightly so, because they take us to the very heart of the type of people that we are to be as the kingdom of God. The beatitudes are set by placeholders seen in the word “blessed.” 

As a modern term, we see the idea of happiness; but, it is closer to the idea of those whom God approves. Of what kind of individual does God approve? Matthew 5:3-12 lays out the character traits that we should each desire. Verses 1-2 set the stage almost literally as Jesus “Seeing the crowds, went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them…” [ESV]. Jesus sets forth the very foundation for which the rest of the Sermon on the Mount will teach by each of these attitudes that we should be. Therefore, we might call the Sermon on the Mount, the Sermon of Attitudes.

- Wayne Rodgers