Matthew 5:1-6 Lessons from the Mountain, Part 1
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 24, 2019, Matthew 5:1-6
Note 1: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Note 2: After I wrote this devotion, I studied the Beatitudes in more detail at a later date. If you want to listen to what I learned, go to the “Spiritual Commentary on Life” section and click on “The Sermon on the Mount–The Beatitudes.”
January 24, 2019 Matthew 5:1-6
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) Matthew has condensed Jesus’ activities in the first tour of Galilee because he wants to focus on evidence. Part of Matthew’s narrative is Jesus’ symbolically recreating the path of the nation of Israel. Jesus was called out of Egypt; He was baptized, which is the Red Sea experience; He was in the wilderness forty days symbolizing the 40 years Israel was in the wilderness or maybe it is the 40 days that Moses communed with God on Mount Sinai; Now, He is on a mountain giving the blessings which symbolizes the Mt. Sinai covenant or Moses giving blessings to the people of Israel. I thought that I followed the logic, but now I’m confused again. I’ll need to think about this some more.
(Understanding the Text) Guzik’s commentary points out that it was standard for rabbis to sit while they taught and the audience to stand. This is opposite of what we do today. “As He preached this message, Jesus was seated. He adopted the customary posture of teaching, as any rabbi in His day – the preacher sat and the audience stood.”
The people would have understood the concept of blessings and cursings. This was part of the covenants of the Pentateuch. Jesus’ blessings were different than they expected, however. In these blessings, Jesus was turning the ways of the world backwards. Where society said that someone was cursed, Jesus said that they were blessed.
What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Guzik’s commentary says “This is not a man’s confession that he is by nature insignificant, or personally without value, for that would be untrue. Instead, it is a confession that he is sinful and rebellious and utterly without moral virtues adequate to commend him to God. c. The poor in spirit recognize that they have no spiritual “assets.” They know they are spiritually bankrupt. With the word poor, Jesus uses the more severe term for poverty. It indicates someone who must beg for whatever they have or get. i. Poverty of spirit cannot be artificially induced by self-hatred; it is brought about by the Holy Spirit and our response to His working in our hearts.” The reason they are happy is that they receive the kingdom of heaven. Why do they receive it? I guess because we must first understand our inadequacy before we can allow God to work in us. When He connects with us we receive our redemption and our reward. Guzik points out that there is a progression in the Beatitudes. We must be poor in spirit before any of the blessings can come.
Those who mourn: I think maybe these blessings are promises of happiness to come. God will wipe every tear from our eyes. We live in a horrible world full of pain and anguish, but we are promised that there will be an end to our sadness. In the progression of the beatitudes, being poor in spirit will cause us to mourn, but then we will be comforted by God.
The meek will inherit the earth. Right now the meek are pushed around by the aggressive and proud and ambitious, but ultimately the meek will receive a reward directly from God. We don’t have to fight tooth and nail for a place. We can know that eventually we will have a glorious paradise to call our own. In the progression of the Beatitudes, our knowledge of our poverty and the comfort we receive from God when we mourn for our poverty, will cause humility in us and that humility will allow us to receive all the rewards that God wants to give us.
Hunger and thirst after righteousness: When we see the horrors and hatreds and cruelties and corruption around us and have a desire for a better non-corrupt life, we have a promise that some day we will live in a place where rightness is everywhere and there is no cruelty. In the progression of the Beatitudes, humility and receiving God’s blessings open up a desire to be like God. We want to be righteous as Jesus is.
(Application) My application for myself is that I need to remember to look at myself and the world through God’s eyes and not through the worldly lens that Satan has provided for society. I need to see others as God sees them. I need to see myself as God sees me and not accept the accusations and lies. I need to see my limitations as blessings where God can work in me.