Simple is good.
Especially when there’s so much in life that’s already so stress-filled and so complicated........ yes, simple is good!

When we’re off on vacation, show me the easiest, least complicated way to get there.
If there’s something that’s going to need work around the house, what’s the most expedient way to get the job done.
Something you need? Just tell me, straight up, what it is and we’ll get it.
Web search that needs to happen? Don’t let the sites get too cluttered.
Emails? Keep them to the point!

Simple is good.

One of the ways we as people tend to keep things simple is by formulas.
Plug "A" into the equation and it’ll give you "B."
Do "this" and "that" will come out of the end of the pipe.
Behave like "such" and you can expect "so" to result.
Treat your kids in this manner, and when they mature they’ll become like that.

It’s handy. It’s simple.
And it’s something we see all the time.
I can’t speak for other faith traditions, but I do know that in our Reformed heritage we’ve got a good dose of it.

Our heritage is a law and order heritage.
The palate we use to paint others tends to be black and white.
We develop patterns which become simple tools to label people, to slot and categorize others..... and ourselves.
        We peg folks with them. And use phrases like:
                "If only they would....."
                "If they had....."
                "They really should....."
                "What they need....."
                "It ought to be...."

Those sorts of words often end up putting all kinds of pressure on ourselves, too. They build hoops through which we feel we need to jump.... and sometimes lay awake at night worrying about how we’re going to make it through.
That’s our background.
That seems to be the bias with which we live; almost an instinct.
An instinct with which we approach passages in the bible that appear in list like form. Including the Beatitudes.

Not just us, let me add.
This past week I reviewed the commentaries on my shelf which speak about these words of Jesus. And many, many of them move in almost reflex-like action to label this passage as a New Testament type of 10 commandments.

New commandments for new community people.
Counter-culture living.
Commandments for the Church.
Christ’s commandments.
Some of the labels used.

And the basic assumption of every single one of these labels is that the Beatitudes serve as some sort of spiritual formula -
        Live like this and you will enter, you will begin to experience the grace of God in your life.

They look at the Beatitudes as a kind of blueprint for living.
Follow this blueprint and grace will build up within you and your experience.
Live in this manner and God’s power will begin to flow. He will smile on you.

Some commentators see them as independent pieces of the puzzle.
Others suggest that they are progressive steps – when you’ve accomplished the first, you can then move along to the second.

Commentators speak like this.
We preachers tend to preach like this. In fact, when doing a series over the course of a summer as we’ve been doing this year, it’s excruciatingly difficult NOT to do so.

And yet – NOT doing so is precisely what’s needed.
Because the Beatitudes are NOT a formula.
They’re NOT some New Testament commandment set which replaces Exodus 20.

Rather, they serve as an introduction - an entrance hall to exploring what life is like in the Kingdom of Jesus.
Matthew is often known as the "Gospel Of The Kingdom". And these words in ch.5 are Christ’s first real sermon. They paint a picture of life in the Kingdom – what it’s like, who it’s for, what it brings.

These first words speak especially about who it’s for.
Oh yes – there will be words about the standards of the Kingdom; blueprints for living within the Kingdom.
        Plenty of them.
        But they come later.

They come only after we hear a welcome to the Kingdom, an invitation list for the sorts of people to whom Jesus comes, about whom He cares
        and for whom
                in a few years
                        Jesus would sacrifice His life on the cross.

When we began this exercise at the end of June we told ourselves that the first order of business in hearing a bible text honestly, correctly is hearing and reading it in the broader context.
        Simple statement, really.
        But one that I’m amazed at how often it gets missed.
                How often we end up browsing through the bible the way we browse through yesterday’s Citizen; how often we surf through the Bible as though it was some collection of celestial hyperlinks from which we can grab a bit here and a byte there.
        Drives me crazy when I read, say, an entire chapter in a worship service and some well-seasoned believe, mature Christian, passes along the comment - "You really should limit your readings. I don’t like to go through so much at one time."
        How much we miss, and how easily we end up off-track, when we read the bible in such a choppy, small segmented manner.

Remember the context for the Beatitudes..... for the whole sermon, really?

Let’s read it together: Matthew 4: 12-25
 

Light has come to people groping around in darkness.
Life has come to people smothered by death.
A road to repentance has come to people caught in sin.
Meaningful living to people caught up in the chores of existence.
Healing for sick people.
Freedom for pained folk.
Clarity for demon-possessed.
Mobility for paralyzed.
Acceptance for the rejected ones.

Jesus moves among these people. He watches them. He helps them.
He lives with and for them.
And it is on seeing them, moving among them, being with them......
        ..... says the opening words of ch.5......
                that Jesus prepares some words of teaching.

It’s teaching directed first of all to the leaders-in-training of the Kingdom,
the disciples.

But, as becomes clear in 7.28, the crowds hear him, too.
This is no speech at some exclusive caucus retreat.
It’s for public consumption.

Because the Kingdom is public – out there, for everyone.
Not for some exclusive club.....
        .... not even a group of people hiding away in some funky building on Jockvale Rd in the bowels of Barrhaven.
                It’s a public message, to be broadcast publically, and lived openly.

A message of blessing......
        for poor people
        for mourning people,
                meek, hungry, and dissatisfied people
                merciful, pure, peace-making people
        for people that everyone else beats up on, insults and walks over.

They are blessed......
        Just like the Land of Zebulun and Naphtali, Galilee of the Gentiles
because of the One who has come among them
        living with them, giving them a Kingdom.
Blessed are they who are the laughing stock of humanity because they will laugh a hearty laugh of joy as they enter and posses the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Take a walk through the gospels – any of them – and you will see snapshot after snapshot, story after story, of the sorts of people that Jesus encounters, embraces and restores:
        - a bunch of nondescript blue collar workers
        - a leper
        - an ostracized peace officer
        - demonized
        - hungry people
        - a distraught mother
        - a grieving widow
        - a questioning clergyman
        - two blind guys

People that others write off, people who know they don’t hold all the cards, people who dangle desperately at the end of their rope
        They’re the people who seem to be open to hearing the call of Christ.
        They’re not so secure in their own kingdom that they can’t let go and grasp hold of the Kingdom of Jesus.
        They’re people that’ll hear and follow when He calls.

Blessed.....
        ....are you....

For ultimately that’s what this whole summer series is about.
Those of whom we read in scripture are really ones who point the way for us.
The blessings, the comfort, the new beginnings, that they experience come also to us.

Not in how well we live by some formula or how carefully we can keep some set of laws,
        but in simply standing with empty hands open wide, open to heaven, open to Jesus, open and ready to receive what He in his gracious goodness is more than ready to give.

This summer we’ve not been pushing some formula for quick riches or security.
We’re setting before you a person - Jesus. Blessed are those who receive Him.