Good reasons to be happy

Sermon for the Festival of All Saints

Revelation 7:2-17  +  Matthew 5:1-12

As we pause today to give thanks to God for the glory of the Church Triumphant, for those whom we call “saints,” “holy ones,” for all the believers in Christ who have fallen asleep in faith, who have entered their eternal rest, who have fought the good fight here below, who have run their race, and who have now received the crown of glory that never fades away, we hear again Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount, where He describes some of the rewards those saints have now received. But as Jesus preaches this sermon, His purpose isn’t primarily to give us comfort about those who have already finished the race. It’s to give us comfort for ourselves as we still run toward the finish line, as we still compete for the prize. And it’s also to spur us on toward the finish line, because great rewards await us there. He paints a picture for us of the Christian life, and He assures us that, as we live it, we have good reasons to be happy.

That’s really what the word “blessed” means in this context. “To have a good reason to be happy.” Let’s briefly walk through the Beatitudes this evening and take a look at who Jesus says has good reasons to be happy, and why.

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

We always need to take note here of the “in spirit” part of “poor in spirit.” God has compassion for those who are materially poor and wants us to have compassion for them, too. But they aren’t the ones Jesus called “blessed.” It’s the “poor in spirit” who have good reason to be happy. It’s those who are humble before God, who are penitent, contrite, sorry for their sins who have good reason to be happy, because the kingdom of heaven doesn’t belong to those who, like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable, try to tell God how wonderful they are, or how deserving of His kingdom, but to the poor in spirit who, like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable, offer God nothing, but seek His kingdom only on the basis of the mercy He has promised for Christ’s sake. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such poor in spirit even now.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Not all who mourn have good reason to be happy. But those who mourn with godly sorrow, whether over their own sins, or over the rampant wickedness they see all around them, or over the state of utter desolation in which outward Christianity finds itself in the world—they have good reason to be happy, even as they mourn, because comfort is coming, ushered in by the Holy Spirit of God, now already through the Word of God, and soon when the Lord Jesus returns to take care of every problem that makes Christians mourn.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

To be meek is to be gentle, like Jesus. That doesn’t mean you can’t be forceful and direct and bold when necessary, as Jesus also was. But in Psalm 37 it says that “the meek will inherit the earth,” and there it defines “meekness” as those who don’t behave wickedly or trust in themselves and their power, but who commit their way to the Lord, who trust in Him, who are still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him, who refrain from anger and wrath. Such people have good reason to be happy, because without lifting a finger themselves, they will inherit the earth, because God will worry about defeating the devil and all the wicked. The Christian can remain meek, because God will fight for us.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Again, pay attention. It’s not hunger and thirst for food and water that makes a person blessed. It’s hunger and thirst for righteousness—those who have such hunger and thirst have a good reason to be happy. There are two ways to hunger and thirst for righteousness. You hunger and thirst for righteousness by knowing that you have no righteousness to offer God, and so you crave the gift God has promised, the righteousness of Christ being counted as your own through faith in Him. You also hunger and thirst for righteousness by yearning for justice in the world, both for yourself and for others, to be treated fairly, to be treated rightly. In both cases, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness have good reason to be happy, because in both cases they will obtain what they so fervently desire. Christ’s righteousness is given even now to believers, and Christ’s justice will be carried out when He comes again.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

You remember the parable of the unmerciful servant. The king forgave him his incredibly large debt, and then he went out and mercilessly mistreated the one who owed him just a little bit. So the king threw that merciless wretch in prison until he could repay everything. God first shows us that kind of great mercy by forgiving our sins and bringing us into His kingdom. He’s serious about wanting us then to show mercy to others. Will we lose out on something great by showing mercy to someone? On the contrary, the merciful have good reason to be happy, because they will receive even more mercy from God.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

We only become pure in heart through the forgiveness of sins and through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, so that our love for God and our neighbor is genuine, and our motives are pure. So we pray with the Psalmist, Create in me a pure heart, O God! And then we have good reason to be happy, because we will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

The opposite of making peace is not just making war, but causing discord and strife, allowing bad feelings to fester and divisions to get wider, refusing to forgive when a brother repents. But God has called us to peace, and to live at peace with people, to the extent that it depends on us, and to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Those who work toward peace and maintain peace and who forgive those who trespass against them have good reason to be happy, because they will be called sons of God, because in doing these things, they are imitating their Father in heaven.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Being persecuted doesn’t sound like a reason to be happy, but Jesus says otherwise. Being persecuted “for righteousness’ sake,” that is, doing what is right in God’s eyes, saying what is right and true and then suffering the consequences for it as the people of this world make life difficult for you. Some Christians stumble and fall when the threat of persecution comes. They give in to the demands of the wicked to avoid persecution. They refuse to bear the cross that Jesus told us we must bear, if we wish to be His disciples. And, in this way, faith dies. But those who accept the burden of persecution willingly show themselves to be disciples of Jesus, and they have good reason to be happy, because, as we sang on Sunday morning, take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife, let these all be gone. They yet have nothing won. The kingdom ours remaineth.

Finally, Blessed are you, when for my sake they insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who came before you.”

No one likes to be insulted. No one likes to be lied about. No one likes to have people saying bad things about you, to your face or behind your back. Still, when you’re insulted or lied about or talked badly about because you were being faithful to the Lord Jesus, Jesus wants you to know that you have good reason to be happy, to rejoice, to be glad, because you’re in the best company of all, in the company of the prophets of God, in the company of Jesus Himself. And, while you may be hated and spoken against here, your reward in heaven just keeps getting greater and greater, the more you’re despised here for the sake of Christ.

Now, all the good things Jesus talks about here, all the blessed results of Christian faithfulness here on earth, are already being experienced by those who have died in faith. So think of the apostles and prophets and other role models of faith from the Bible. Think of your loved ones who died in the faith, or church members who were with us for a time but are with us no longer, having crossed over from the Church Militant into the Church Triumphant. Take comfort in the Word of God, which assures you that the saints in glory have received prizes that far surpass anything they suffered here. But above all, take the words of Jesus to heart for yourself, so that you devote every day to being the kind of Christians that Jesus describes here in these verses, penitent, believing, and striving to live according to God’s commandments, that you may always have all these reasons to be happy, that, together with the saints in glory, you may always live with the blessing of Christ your Redeemer. Amen.