Chapter three of Studies in the Sermon on the Mount is, like the previous chapters, another "introduction" of sorts. I assure you, there's more to the book than introductory remarks! Nevertheless, those remarks are helpful and give us good perspective and an orientation to the Sermon on the Mount. I can't stress enough how important it is to flush as much sediment out as we (reasonably) can before coming to a passage like the Sermon on the Mount. Because we're so prone to approaching this passage of Scripture and parceling it up, running away from it without finishing it, or separating it from the broader scope of the Gospel of Matthew, the New Testament, and the Bible as a whole, it helps. Really. So let's get going with a discussion of chapter three.
The chapter title is "An Introduction to the Beatitudes." Most of us know "the Beatitudes." A good question to ask before approaching MLJ's discussion is "What are the Beatitudes?" A beatitude, by definition, refers to supreme blessing, bliss, or happiness. The Greek wording that stands behind each of our "Blessed are..." has to do with happiness, not simply a "good saying" or eulogia, from which we get our English word "eulogy." We're not just talking about a blessing of good words. We're talking about a state of supreme happiness and bliss. While it's probably over-simplistic to substitute the word as such, "happy are" might help you make better sense of the "blessed are" statements that run throughout the first handful of verses in Matthew 5. The Beatitudes give us a snapshot of the kind of character that marks out those happy in Kingdom blessedness. And again, blessing isn't just what we get in a bank account. It has to do with delight in God and belonging to Him, which the Beatitudes certainly help us understand and correct views of blessedness that stop at the wallet.
Here are some helpful remarks from MLJ in the early goings of this chapter:
"Happiness is the great question confronting mankind. The whole world is looking for happiness and it is tragic to observe the ways in which people are seeking it. The vast majority, alas, are doing so in a way that is bound to produce misery. Anything which, by evading the difficulties, merely makes people happy for the time being, is ultimately going to add to their misery and problems. That is where the utter deceitfulness of sin comes in; it is always offering happiness, and it always leads to unhappiness and to final misery and wretchedness (Studies, 24)."
Though these sermons were delivered in the mid-20th century, things have only gotten worse in the vacuum of Western culture. Fulfillment is encouraged in any other form, by those in positions of cultural authority, than satisfaction in the Lord Jesus Christ. The empty and perverse range of ways this plays out - from overwork at the promise of more money to the abuse of our own bodies in supposed self-fulfillment - is easy to see all over the media and hard to think about without cringing at, with so many promises of happiness that ultimately go unfulfilled and pave the way away from delight in God and harden the hearts of all manner of people. It's sad and grieving. And it's the reality of sin and its deceitfulness.
As Lloyd-Jones says above, all of humanity wants happiness. One of my favorite tracts comes from John Piper and Desiring God (whom I have benefited immensely from and would encourage you to give them a look if you're not familiar with them), called Quest for Joy. The tract opens with this statement from the French mathematician/philosopher Blaise Pascal:
"All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different
means theyemploy, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to
war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended
with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this
object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those
who hang themselves."
Pascal hits it right on the head here. When I was in junior high and high school (those days that not many of us like thinking about), I was really mopey. I didn't get what I wanted and because of it, I threw myself pity parties and tried to convince others that I deserved their attention. And you know what? Though I would have denied it at the time, because I wasn't truly converted until just before college, my pursuit of moping around and self-pity was a way of seeking happiness. Like the sad last line of Pascal's quote, even those who appear to pursue things in abject misery still pursue what they do because, given any set of options, they choose what they want out of a sense that it is their best and happiest option.
I think this is where we can get a better sense of the "happiness" in view here. The happiness of the Beatitudes has much more to do with "bestness" than the smiley-faced sense of happiness we often think of. "Blessed are" proclaims a state of preferment, bestness, and holy joy over those whose lives are characterized by what follows. MLJ says: "The Sermon on the Mount says, however, that if you really want to be happy, here is the way. This and this alone is the type of person who is truly happy, who is really blessed. This is the sort of person who is to be congratulated (Studies, 24-25). This is seriously practical stuff, folks. Joy, happiness, fulfillment, contentment - things that elude us in the pursuit of stuff are said to belong to those who are described in the Beatitudes.
One of the biggest problems with how people come to the Sermon on the Mount is the idea that "if I do such and such, I'll have God's favor" or "this person appears to be poor or humble, even though they aren't a Christian - this describes them as well." And introducing the Beatitudes, MLJ continues to be vigilant about saying: No! That is not the way it is. Rather, if we consider the placement of the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, we discover this: it stands at the headwaters of conduct. And the Beatitudes don't say: "Be humble and you'll get this." Instead, they say "Blessed are..." So let's be rid of the idea that we shoot for a beatitude and then it describes us and we have deserved the blessing of the Beatitude. So MLJ says, "It is not right to say some are meant to be 'poor in spirit,' and some are meant to 'mourn,' and some are meant to be 'meek,' and some are meant to be 'peacemakers', and so on. No; every Christian is meant to be all of them, and to manifest all of them, at the same time. Now I think it is true and right to say that in some Christians some will be more manifest than others; but that is not because it is meant to be so. It is just due to the imperfections that still remain in us. . . . Indeed, I think we can even go further and say that the character of this detailed description is such, that it becomes quite obvious, the moment we analyse each Beatitude, that each one of necessity implies the other" (Studies, 26). From what I've read to this point, Lloyd-Jones does a very good job of keeping the context together and showing how the Beatitudes "work together." Ultimately, "The Beatitudes are a complete whole and you cannot divide them; so that, whereas one of them may be more manifest perhaps in one person than in another, all of them are there. The relative proportions may vary, but they are all present, and they are all meant to be present at the same time" (Studies, 26). This is helpful to note - and to help us not to excuse ourselves in squelching out one area and favoring another.
What MLJ continues with is, I think, the most important take away from this chapter. The post is already getting a bit long, so I want to start sewing things up by bringing this out for you to think about and internalize, both to avoid a wrong view of what real poorness of spirit (and other things talked about in the Beatitudes) looks like and to glorify God for the genuine article and seeking Him for its presence in our own hearts. Here's, then, what I think is extremely important for us to remember, not only about the Beatitudes, but the whole Sermon on the Mount:
"None of these descriptions refers to what we may call a natural tendency. . . . I cannot emphasize this too strongly. No man naturally conforms to the descriptions here given in the Beatitudes, and we must be very careful to draw a sharp distinction between the spiritual qualities that are here described and material ones which appear to be like them. Let me put it like this. There are some people who appear to be naturally 'poor in spirit'; that is not what is described here by our Lord. . . . These are not natural qualities; nobody by birth and by nature is like this (Studies, 26-27)."
Now, how familiar does the following sound?
"This is a rather subtle matter and people are often in difficulty about it in this way. They say, 'I know a person who does not claim to be a Christian, never goes to a place of worship, never reads the Bible, never prays, and frankly tells us he is not interested in these things at all. But, you know, I have a felling that he is more of a Christian than many people who do go to a place of worship and who do pray. He is always nice and polite, never says a harsh word or expresses an unkind judgment, and is always doing good' (Studies, 27)."
Here's Lloyd-Jones' response:
"That is the kind of confusion that often arises through failure to be clear at this particular point. . . . Some of us are born aggressive, others are quiet; some are alert and fiery, others are slow. We find ourselves as we are, and these nice people who are so frequently brought forward as an argument against the evangelical faith are in no sense responsible for being like that. . . . As people differ in their physical appearance, so they differ in temperament; and if that is what determines whether a man is a Christian or not, I say it is totally unfair. But thank God, that is not the position at all. Any one of us [referring to the Christian], whatever we may be by birth and nature, is meant as a Christian to be like this. And not only are we meant to be like this; we can be like this. . . . [The Gospel] can take the proudest man by nature and make him a man who is poor in spirit. . . . Here are characteristics and dispositions that are the result of grace, the product of the Holy Spirit, and therefore possible for all. They cut right across all natural states and natural dispositions (Studies, 28-29)."
I don't know about you, but this is refreshing for me personally - because I know that there are those Beatitudes I identify more with and those I don't. And the great reality is that I can appeal to God and say, "I'm not like this - my heart is callus in this way - and I need my heart worked on, to change it and make it more like what I'm saved to be, what is spoken of here." It's not about self-effort or resigning because we aren't naturally one way or another. I hope this is hope for you. Because I want to be meek and I know I'm not prone to it "naturally." The seed for meekness is already present, because we who believe "have died and our lives are hid with Christ in God." And wrapped up in Jesus Christ, my old, sinful self is decisively put off, even as it is still being put to death, including my non-meekness.
There's a lot more in this chapter - and I hope you've read it or will read it. Let me leave you, though with some closing remarks by MLJ, that serve for a good closing application/question section. (As an aside, let me be clear: it's not only "do I want to be like this" that designates genuine Christian life - but it accompanies a faith that rests in Christ alone as our Righteousness, having come to a point where we have turned from our sin and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ.)
"There, then, is the general account of the Christian which is given in the Beatitudes. Do you see how essentially different he is from the non-Christian? The vital questions which we therefore ask ourselves are these. Do we belong to this kingdom? Are we ruled by Christ? Is He our King and our Lord? Are we manifesting these qualities in our daily lives? Is it our ambition to do so? Do we see that this is what we are meant to be? . . . My immediate reaction to these Beatitudes proclaims exactly what I am. If I feel they are harsh and hard, if I feel that they are against the grain and depict a character and type of life which I dislike, I am afraid it must means I am not a Christian. If I do not want to be like this, I must be 'dead in trespasses and sins' . . . But if I feel that I am unworthy and yet I want to be like that, well, however unworthy I may be, if this is my desire and my ambition, there must be new life in me. . . Let every man examine himself (Studies, 32)."
To God Alone Be the Glory,
-Chris
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