In Jesus’ introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, he describes what we commonly know as The Beatitudes, the blessings upon those who display the attributes of God’s children. To the disciples of Christ, it is very reassuring to know we are in a blessed state if we have a desire for these spiritual things, and also an encouragement to know the kingdom blessings if we are faithful to walk in each of these attributes. However, there is much to be gleaned from considering the opposite side of each of these beatitudes. Blessed primarily means “happy” in this context, so the opposite of that would be “unhappy”. Since we will primarily be discussing the state of God’s children who might not walk in the manner that they ought to, we will primarily describe the opposite state as “unjoyful”, which speaks more of us not laying hold on the joy we ought to have in the abundant life, rather than just unhappy, that is more closely associated with variable circumstances of life.
This discussion is somewhat similar to the contrasting blessings and curses given to the Israelites in Lev. 26 and then again to the next generation in Deut. 28. There would be amazing, almost incomprehensible blessings for obedience, but there would be harsh, almost incomprehensible curses for disobedience. It’s also worth noting that while the blessings are amazing, the detail of the curses is 2-4 times more than the blessings. In Lev. 26, 11 verses describe the blessings for obedience, but 26 verses describe the curses for disobedience (almost 2.5 times as many verses devoted to the curses). In Deut. 28, 14 verses describe the blessings for obedience, but 54 verses describe the curses for disobedience (almost 4 times as many verses devoted to the curses). I think this sharply emphasizes “to whom much is given, much is required” (Luke 12:48). God is so gracious to his children who follow his commandments and serve him. We can live the fulness of the abundant life, with joy unspeakable and full of glory, being abundantly blessed and happy in Christ. However, the Lord reserves harsh judgment and chastisement for his children who choose to live according to their flesh and the world, rather than by his word. One of the pinnacle examples of this is Lot. His righteous soul was vexed daily (2 Pet. 2:8) because he chose to live in the realm of curses, instead of the realm of blessings. There is no reason for us to live like Lot in our kingdom walk and be perpetually unhappy and unjoyful. No, we need to follow the inward convictions that God has already put inside all his children and partake of happy blessings, instead of unhappy and unjoyful curses from the Lord.
Let’s consider the opposite side of each of these beatitudes to try to see the warnings to avoid that unhappy and unjoyful state. The Sermon on the Mount was delivered to the disciples of Christ, so these only apply to children of God. Thus, we will orient our negative statements to consider children of God.
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (v.3) The opposite of this would be: Unhappy (unjoyful) are the children of God who are rich in spirit, for theirs is not the kingdom of heaven. In Luke 6:20-26, Jesus gave a summarized version of the beatitudes, and there he not only gave the blesseds but he also pronounced some woes as well. “Woe unto you who that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.” (Luke 6:24) Riches alone are not sinful, but it’s very easy to let material wealth affect our spiritual dependency on God. Those who are rich in spirit, who are prideful, who view themselves as more prosperous than others, will severely limit their ability to enjoy the kingdom of heaven as they ought to. The statement that theirs is not the kingdom of heaven (and the other negative statements to follow), are not absolute statements, but statements of degrees. There is certainly some degree of kingdom blessings that these children of God will have, but they will be severely diminished if they are living in a rich and prideful way that causes God to actively resist the proud, foregoing the providential grace they would have received if they displayed humility (1 Pet. 5:5). It’s a very bad place to be to have God actively resisting you because of your pride, and we don’t want to be in that state. The rich young ruler – a born-again child of God who Jesus loved (Mark 10:21) – was shown by the Lord that his problem was not the dollar value of his wealth but his covetousness. He was unwilling to enjoy the blessings of assuming a humble posture of being poor in spirit, and he went away from Jesus sorrowful because he was not willing to give up his riches of spirit to truly be happy in the kingdom.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. (v.4) The opposite of this would be: Unhappy (unjoyful) are the children of God who are comfortable in their sin, their conscience seared with a hot iron, for they shall not be comforted. Mourning here speaks of mourning over our sin, so having a tender heart convicted of sins. It’s a very dangerous place to be for the child of God who has resisted the conviction of the Holy Spirit so much and so consistently that their conscience has been seared with a hot iron (1 Tim. 4:2), and they don’t have the same tenderness of conscience for conviction they should have or did have in times past. Jesus pronounced a woe in Luke 6 upon those who laugh now but don’t mourn over their sins. “Woe unto you who laugh now! For ye shall mourn and weep.” (Luke 6:25) How many children of God make a mockery of sin? They laugh at sin, instead of having the proper tender conviction of the Holy Spirit. If children of God laugh at sin now, Jesus pronounces woe, mourning, and weeping upon them in the future. Look at the sharp contrast in Jesus’ words. You can either have mourning now over conviction over your sin, and repent as you ought to, or you can laugh at sin now, and you will later mourn over having to reap what you have sown from your sins. It’s much better to mourn now and repent, and be comforted, than to endure the harsh chastisement of our Heavenly Father because he will surely make you mourn and weep later if you reject the conviction of his Holy Spirit today.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. (v.5) The opposite of this would be: Unhappy (unjoyful) are the children of God who are prideful, for they shall not inherit the earth. This closely aligns with poor vs. rich in spirit in v.3. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (1 Pet. 5:5). God hates pride, and a proud look is the first thing listed in the things the Lord hates (Prov. 6:16-17). The Bible is replete with not just warnings against pride, but specific judgment against those who walk in pride. The pride of life is one of the three identifying attributes of this world (1 John 2:16). Our flesh, this world, and the devil will do everything possible to stoke our pride, but we must allow meekness to have its perfect work in us, as we manifest that fruit of the Spirit, as we ought. We think about all the harsh judgment against the prideful in scripture – against Nebuchadnezzar in Dan. 4, against Herod in Acts 12, and so many others. We can simply summarize with the final lesson Nebuchadnezzar learned after eating grass like an ox for seven years because of pride – “those that walk in pride, he is able to abase” (Dan. 4:37). If the Lord has to abase us for our pride, it will certainly be an unhappy and unjoyful lot in our life.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (v.6) The opposite of this would be: Unhappy (unjoyful) are the children of God who are full, not hungry, not thirsty for righteousness, think they are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, for they shall not be filled. Jesus pronounces a specific woe upon this group as well in Luke 6. “Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger.” (Luke 6:25) Similar to mourning, you either mourn now in the right way, or you will mourn later in a miserable way. Here, you either hunger now after righteousness, or you hunger later in misery, being deprived of kingdom blessings that you should have. If we view ourselves like the Laodicean church did – rich, increased with goods, and had need of nothing, instead of their true spiritual state of being wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (Rev. 3:17) – then there is no emptiness that needs to be filled. They are filled up with the things of the world, but Jesus says if you are filled up with the things of the world, then you will hunger in a spiritual way and not be filled. If you choose the path of the prodigal son, you will hunger down in the pigpen, coveting the swine’s food, when he should have had his hunger filled with his father’s fatted calves the whole time. He chose sin, and he was hungry, but he put himself in a position where the only thing available to him (the swine’s husks) couldn’t satisfy his hunger. Thankfully he repented and returned to the father’s house, but there was no way to have his hunger filled down in the pigpen. We can hunger after righteousness now, or hunger after the world’s husks that can’t fill us later. Oh, it’s so much better to feel those spiritual hunger and thirst pains and partake of the living bread and living water, and be abundantly filled by Jesus Christ!
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. (v.7) The opposite of this would be: Unhappy (unjoyful) are the children of God who are harsh and legalistic, for they shall not obtain mercy.Showing mercy to someone who has truly offended or wronged you is so very hard. There is a place for allowing someone to reap the consequences of their actions they have sown, but as much as in me is, we should show mercy to others. If we are always harsh and legalistic to others, the time will most likely come when we wish someone might show us mercy, but instead we will reap from them the harshness we have shown to others.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (v.8) The opposite of this would be: Unhappy (unjoyful) are the children of God who are corrupt in heart, for they shall not see God. We have to be very vigilant to guard our hearts and not let the corruption of this world seep down into our hearts. There were many more than eight children of God in this world when God destroyed the world in Noah’s day. The Lord’s summary statement of the whole world (even many, many children of God) was “that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Gen. 6:5) That generation had allowed the world to corrupt their hearts so much that these children of God (apart from Noah’s family) thought continually about evil, not continually about purifying their hearts in service to the Lord. The Holy Spirit is always teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and always positively exhorting us to live soberly, righteously, and godly here in this present world (Titus 2:11-13). The Holy Spirit is always working to purify our hearts, and we need to ensure we do not quench that movement of the Spirit in our hearts (1 Thess. 5:19) so that we can see God more clearly with a purity of heart.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (v.9) The opposite of this would be: Unhappy (unjoyful) are the children of God who are troublemakers, for they shall not be called the children of God. A peacemaker is someone who steps into a contentious situation to work as a mediator between offended parties to make peace. To be a peacemaker, you must be willing to put yourself in the middle of conflict to try to reconcile offended parties. God is the author of peace, not of confusion or trouble. If someone is consistently causing trouble, contention, and strife, they are showing forth a very poor witness as a child of God. Sowing discord among the brethren (which the Lord hates, Prov. 6:16-19) is the opposite of being a peacemaker. God is not honored by people who are constantly making trouble, and similar to the language in other woes, if you make trouble for others, don’t be surprised when trouble is constantly on your doorstep and in your life as well.
10) Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11) Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12) Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (v.10-12) The opposite of this would be: Unhappy (unjoyful) are the children of God who are at ease in Zion with no persecution, reviling, or commitment of sacrifice for the kingdom, for theirs is not the kingdom of heaven and minimal is their reward in heaven. Maybe the pinnacle way the kingdom of God is so much different than this world is Jesus tells his disciples that persecution, reviling, and false slander are actually happy blessings, and if we encounter those, we should rejoice and be exceedingly glad! Obviously, our preference would always be to avoid persecution, reviling, and slander. However, the Lord affirms “all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12) The only way for a child of God to be removed from persecution is to “not” live godly and put their light under a bushel. Most likely you have become “at ease in Zion,” of which the Lord pronounces “woe” upon you (Amos 6:1). Thus, when persecution inevitably comes from living godly, we can rejoice and know there is a great reward for us in heaven, and in the kingdom of God. Jesus said, “Woe unto you when all men speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26) If all men without exception speak well of you, it is almost guaranteed you are putting your light under a bushel in public view, and telling people with itching ears what they want to hear, not the truth. If you simply love Jesus and serve him, this world will hate it, and some will inevitably speak reviling towards you. If you consistently are unwilling to stand up for Christ in public situations or in the workplace, or wherever, then you are greatly reducing the blessings in the kingdom of God that you will experience. Jesus said if we confess Christ before men, he will confess us before the Father in heaven (Matt. 10:32), but “whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 10:33) This is not a threat to go to hell, but we will have a significant amount of the fellowship of Jesus and providential blessings in the kingdom removed from our lives if we deny the Lord before men. Oh, but what great blessings the Lord has for his people who remain faithful and resolute in the face of persecution, reviling, and slander, for great is our reward in the kingdom of heaven!
In summary, I think our consideration today is essentially a New Testament exposition of the summary statement from the Old Testament, in Isaiah 1:18-20. We are already washed white as snow by the blood of Jesus (v.18), but “if ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (v.19-20). As a follow-up admonition and summary from the detailed blessings and cursing in Deut. 28, Moses later told God’s people, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” (Deut. 30:19) In the New Testament context, Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount is essentially saying: I have set before you righteousness, joy, and peace in the abundant life, or unjoyful chastisement and reduction of spiritual blessings and fellowship in the kingdom of God; spiritual happiness and blessings, or spiritual unhappiness and unjoyfulness, and vexing of your soul. Forsake the wide gate and broad way that leads to the destruction of your happiness, joy, and kingdom blessings, and enter into the strait gate and narrow way that leads to the fulness of the abundant life in the kingdom of God! (Matt. 7:13-14)
Sermon
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