Living as a Biblical Christian: Are You Happy? Luke 6:20

And He raised His eyes toward His disciples and began saying, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God”

In today’s text, Jesus begins his Sermon on the Mount, which begins with the beatitudes. The meaning of beatitude is “bliss” or “blessing”. One thing for sure is that all mankind seeks happiness on earth. Here, Jesus tackles the true source of happiness for all people. Some have approached interpreting this sermon as something social, political or law. However, the Sermon on the Mount is directed toward all Christians on how to live heavenly lives on earth. Therefore, only Christians are able to follow and obey the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus’ audience as he began preaching were his disciples. Who are these disciples? Disciple, simply put, generally means “learner”. Based on the immediate context, this crowd covers disciples who were both committed to following Christ and also those that would eventually unfollow Christ. But, based on verse 13, Jesus specifically spoke to the twelve disciples he would choose out of the many disciples.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus distinguished how He communicated between true believers and non-believers. The Lord shows, through the Sermon on the Mount, how Christians live versus the world. The beginning of the Sermon on the Mount describes the blessed after believing in Christ for salvation. In other words, those that are truly happy is the direct result of saving their souls. The world, on the other hand, attempts to find happiness through any means other than the gospel of Jesus Christ. King Solomon is the greatest example in Scripture where human happiness is pursued externally in the world will does not satisfy the human heart. He possessed everything man was able to obtain under the sun; however, he ultimately concluded to “fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil (Ecc. 12:13-14). True and lasting blessings do not stem from anything material, but it comes from the joy of salvation.

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (v 20).

Every Christian must possess the characteristic of being poor in spirit, thereby being partakers of the divine nature receiving the blessings of God (2 Pet. 1:3-4). Only those that are born of God are spiritually poor and also enjoy the things of God’s kingdom. In contrast, for those that do not believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior will not submit to Jesus as King and neither be spiritually poor.

Another obvious truth for those living according to the Beatitudes is living life as kingdom citizens under the kingship of Jesus. Christians recognize that Jesus reigns in their lives after being saved. Therefore, we who have been raised up with Christ continue to seek the things above by setting the mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth (Col. 3:2).

Moreover, this text is a great means of evangelism for Christians. The spiritually poor understand the importance of sharing the gospel of Christ that enables sinners to become spiritually poor in God’s grace. Christians understand the only means of true blessing is through Christ alone.

Are you blessed now? Are you happy now? Even though we might not have the things of the world, how are Christians still happy? Pastor Paul Choi will dive further into the blessings Jesus preaches about in the Beatitudes next week.