Living Your Blest Life Now - Part Two

Encountering Jesus: the Gospel of Matthew

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

May 3, 2026

Living Your Blest Life Now Part Two

Let’s turn to Matthew 5 as we continue through the sermon on the mount.

5 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

² And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

⁵ “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matt. 5:1-6

Pray.

In the sermon on the mount Jesus brings us a greater law and a higher standard than the law of Moses. Jesus said he didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it and so when he says “you have heard it said…but I say to you…” he’s not contradicting the law but expanding and deepening it, showing us how God intended the law to be applied all along.

The sermon on the mount teaches the core ethics, values, and nature of the kingdom of God and the beatitudes in particular describe what kingdom people look like. Jesus does not intend for us to earn entrance into the kingdom of heaven by keeping the greater law he teaches here any more than the law of Moses was given as a way of entering the kingdom. The primary intent is to help us realize that God’s standard is impossibly high so as to drive us to Christ in desperation. We can never enter the kingdom of heaven by our own efforts so if we are to enter we need a different way. Jesus is that way. Jesus kept this law perfectly and then died – the righteous for the unrighteous – for our sins. Only by trusting in the atoning work of Jesus can we be justified and qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven.

But what does that mean for the beautiful teaching of the sermon on the mount? Is it only meant to drive us to Jesus and then has nothing to say to us? No! As the Puritans would say, the sermon on the mount drives us to Christ for justification, and then Christ sends us back to the sermon on the mount for sanctification.

So if you’re not a Christian, this sermon isn’t meant to give you a list of things to do to “earn heaven”. Jesus is the way, the Truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through him, so come to Jesus and put your faith and trust in him and him alone to save you.

For Christians, this beautiful sermon teaches us about the ethics and values of the kingdom of heaven and the beatitudes in particular paint a picture of what kingdom people look like and what the Holy Spirit is working to form in our character.

This morning we come to the third of nine beatitudes telling us how to live our blest life now. Not our best life now – our best life doesn’t happen until we enter Christ’s eternal kingdom. But the beatitudes teach us how to live a blest life – a life that is right with God and in harmony with the kingdom of God. A life that Jesus promises will be rewarded by God with really good things. I’ve heard Christians say we shouldn’t obey God for the rewards, we should simply obey God cause it’s the right thing to do. However Jesus often motivates us to follow and obey him by promising us rewards so yes, we should want the rewards! In the beatitudes the rewards are the way we are blessed.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Why? …for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who mourn. Why? …for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Vs 5

It’s easy when we hear the word “meek” to get a mental picture of someone who is timid and weak. J. Upton Dickson reinforced that stereotype when he founded a group called DOORMATS which stands for "Dependent Organization Of Really Meek And Timid Souls" Their motto is "the meek shall inherit the earth - if that's okay with everybody."

The Greek word for meek doesn't mean weak or timid. The Greek word praos means strength under control, strength that is harnessed. That same word was used to describe a war horse that had been trained to wear the harness and instantly obey the commands of its rider. The power of the horse was harnessed and controlled for greater use.

Jesus is our greatest example of strength under control. He says in Matt. 11:29 . Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek (praus) and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.Jesus is meek and humble and he invites us to put on his harness

and allow him to give us his strength to do his work.

Meekness isn’t about our personality. Meek people, like humble people (the two are closely related) come in all personality types: extroverts, introverts, quiet, loud, confident, cautious. Meekness means whoever we are and whatever our personality, we trust in God and we come under His authority. Our lives are gladly restrained by His harness. We want to be sensitive to His leading: if He pulls the reins to the right, we go right. If He pulls to the left, we go left. If He pulls us up, we stop. Meekness is to trust God and depend on His strength rather than trust in ourselves and rely on our strength.

Jesus is referencing Ps. 37, a psalm that contrasts those who trust God and do good with those who do evil and scheme to do harm to others. There are people who don’t want any restraint on them – no one tells me what to do kind of people – and they will use any means necessary to get ahead. There are people who not only live to selfishly get all they can for themselves, they love to see other people hurt and oppressed. Love to scheme the downfall of others.

So built into the picture of the meek are those who are pushed down. Taken advantage of. Lied about. Schemed against. Because there are people who really believe, “if I can climb higher on the rung of life and I can step on you and push you down, while doing it, then I win!” Ps 37 says of the wicked – you will look for them but they will be nowhere to be found. They don’t win, they disappear. But the meek will inherit the land – which Jesus expands to be the meek will inherit the earth, speaking of the day when his kingdom people will rule and reign on earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Vs .6

Hunger and thirst speak of strong desires that direct and shape our lives. Obviously we all have hunger and thirst for food and drink, but we have other hungers and thirsts too.

For reasons I won’t go into, I recently went on a 3 day sardine fast. It’s a thing, you can look it up. I don’t think I’d ever eaten a sardine before then, and I don’t think I ever want to eat a sardine again. By the third day I couldn’t stand the idea of eating another sardine. I hungered for a cheeseburger, I hungered for a pizza, I hungered for an apple. I did NOT hunger for sardines.

To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to have a passion for righteousness. Righteousness is a prominent theme of this sermon. In verse 10 Jesus says that those who follow him can expect to be persecuted for righteousness' sake; he says in verse 20 that we need to have a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes if we are enter the kingdom of heaven; in 6:1 Jesus says that we are to avoid practicing our righteousness just to be seen and noticed by men; and that we are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness in everything we do (6:33).

Righteousness is important to God and should be to us. We long to be righteous – to be right with God and to do the right thing. When we believe in Jesus as our Savior, he cleanses us of our sin and he gives us the gift of his righteousness so that we are righteous in God’s eyes. That’s called justification. If you are a Christian, you are 100% justified – righteous – in the sight of God. You will never be more justified than you are right now. You say, yeah but I still have a lot of sin in my life. That’s where sanctification comes in, as the Spirit works on us to help us grow in day to day righteousness.

To hunger and thirst for righteousness also means we long for social justice to be done, especially for those who are oppressed and wronged. And not just for those with whom we agree. One way that unrighteousness can creep in is by the false weight of bias. If I don’t like someone, I’m quick to judge and condemn them. If I like them, I’m tempted to turn a blind eye or downplay wrong-doing.

Proverbs says that one of the things God really hates is a false weight. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to want to see the right done and the wrong punished fairly and without bias.

Jesus says the reward for hungering and thirsting for righteousness is that you will be satisfied. Sin creates deep hungers and thirsts in us that are never satisfied. Sin never satisfies! The hungers get bigger! The thirsts get deeper! Think of an addict: that hit satisfies them for a short while, but then the addiction pangs hit harder than ever. That’s true whether the addiction is to drugs or alcohol or pornography or things that seem innocuous like pleasure or popularity or comfort. These things provide momentary satisfaction only to hit us with a bigger hunger and thirst than ever.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied because one day God will set everything right. Justice will roll down like might waters. Those who live their lives hungering and thirsting for unrighteousness and for sinful things will be unsatisfied forever and ever.

As we close, a few application points:

1. Ask the Lord to give us a greater hunger and thirst for righteousness, starting with our own lives. It’s easy to look “out there” and think we need more justice in the court system, in the political system, in the government, in the world. Righteousness will never start out there until it starts in here. Lord, thank you for justifying me in Christ. Holy Spirit work on my heart and mind and make me righteous in the day to day.
2. Do what you can to pursue righteousness and justice for others. For the oppressed, for the hurting, for the one being treated unjustly. And to the degree that you are involved, pursue justice for the corrupt and the unjust.
3. Look forward and know that one day justice will roll down like mighty waters and everything wrong will be made right and every injustice will be made right. On that day, those who hunger and thirst for justice will be satisfied.

If you’re not a Christian…