We have now reached the fifth beatitude which tells us that the merciful are the blessed ones. This is a unique beatitude amongst the list of others in that the outcome replicates the command. The merciful will be shown mercy. It is another insight into what citizens of the kingdom are to be like.

In verse 6, we learn that it is those who hunger and thirst for righteousness who will be satisfied. While this is something that Christians would almost certainly nod their heads in agreement with, it may be an idea that we don’t often meditate on personally. Our approach to righteousness is fundamental to who God’s people are to be.

In this third beatitude, Jesus tells us that the blessed ones are people who are meek. It is a word that we sometimes use, but rarely think about what it means and what it actually looks like in day to day life. But it is a quality that our Lord holds at a high value and is connected to our inheritance as his people.

This week Pastor Isaac took us through the second beatitude from the Sermon on the Mount. In this short statement, Jesus teaches something that should strike us as odd. It is the ones who mourn that are truly blessed. This is another signal to us and all of his hearers that reminds everyone that his kingdom is unlike any other kingdom. And the people who he seeks out to populate this kingdom are not the type that anyone would expect.

Now that we have taken a broad view of the entire Sermon on the Mount, we dig in to look at it in pieces. And when Jesus opens his mouth to teach, he begins with a series of statements known as the Beatitudes. It is in the Beatitudes where we start to get a good picture of what his kingdom is all about. It is certainly nothing that we would expect; but through his teaching here, the true heart of God is revealed.

This week is unique, instead of the usual short scripture passage, we are studying the entire three chapters of the Sermon on the Mount this Sunday. While we will be taking time to examine it in more bite-size pieces in future Sundays, it is important to first look at it as a whole. What we discover, is the level of authority that Jesus holds and the heart of God in what he commands of His people.

In this first week of 2024, we are taking a short break from the book of Matthew to look at Psalm 1 together. But truthfully, Psalm 1 is not as much of a deviation from Matthew as we may think; especially as we prepare for the Sermon on the Mount. This opening psalm draws up the boundary between the wicked and the righteous, how they fare in this life, and what will come of them.

In the wilderness, Jesus accomplished what no man could by overcoming the temptation of the evil one. Now it is time to begin building his kingdom, but Christ’s kingdom is very different from everything we have come to expect concerning power and reign. All of our expectations are gloriously reversed as we see what he has come to do.

Message from Pastor Mike Matheson on December 24, 2023

We have now reached a point in the book of Matthew where we see Jesus as an adult for the first time. But chapter 3 doesn’t begin with Jesus immediately. We are first made privy to the ministry of John the Baptist, who is the one sent before Christ to prepare the way. Between John’s work, the appearance of religious leaders to the scene, and the actual baptism of Jesus, Matthew 3 is a passage that is full of examples that give us a greater understanding of our Lord and the work he was sent to do.