The Blessing of the Beattitudes

In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus tells the multitude (us) that if we will incorporate certain virtues into our personalities, that we will receive a blessing for it, and not just any blessing, He used a word from the classical Greek, that was unique and special, this word was Makarious, and it refers to an awesome state of blessing. It is possessing the favor of God, being marked by the fullness from God, it is one who partakes of Gods divine nature by faith in Christ, it is a state of joy, peace, and satisfaction, inspite of negative circumstanses, it is the equivelent to having the Kingdom of God in ones heart. At one time it was thought to be a state of blessing reserved for the "gods" and those who went to be with them, and then along comes Jesus and says that we can have it now! It is important to note, that the blessing spoken of here by Jesus, is not static but progressive, it grows within us as we grow in Christ! each virtue or beattitude being dependent on the one(s) proceeding it. So what are these things that will give us access to this incredible state of blessing? well I'm glad you asked. They are in order, poor in spirit, those that mourn, the meek, they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, peacemakers, and the persecuted. Each of these comes with a blessing (makarious) as well as another reward for each one. So lets look at them one at a time. Mt. 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." the word poor here has nothing to do with money, it says " poor in spirit" not poor in wallet, the GK word means helpless, it could be stated as "spiritually bankrupt" unable to pay our bill, well according to scripture, nobody can pay the bill we owe God for sin, so it must be something more, yes there is, it is one who realizesa that they need a savior, and when we make Jesus Lord of our lives, He becomes savior and we inherit the kingdom of heaven!   Mt5:4 " Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. This is not the mourning of lost loved ones, this is the sorrow and repentance over our sin, and the sin of others, and we will be comforted, which is comforted and encouraged.  Mt5:5 " Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. again we see a word that has been misunderstood by some, "meek" this is not wimpy, it is strong yet mild ,it is " strong enough to be gentle" this is a fruit of the spirit as opposed to a work of the flesh. It results in an inheritence of the earth, of course it does, those who are" led of the Spirit are called the children of God", those who are not , are not.  Mt. 5:6  " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. to be hungry is to strive and to thirst is to long for, those who" hunger and thirst" are those who crave righteousness, and not only will they be blessed, but they shall be filled with Gods righteousness! Oh Halelujah!  Mt 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." so who are the merciful? they are those wonderful people who truly care about those in misery, those who have compassion on them and reach out to help them, they take the heartaches of others and make them their own. and because they do, God does the same for them.  Mt 5:8 " Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Pure in heart is unmixed in the seat and center of human life, our heart is where we have our desires, feelings, affections, passions, impulses, etc., and as we grow to the place where this seat is unmixed, its pure, not a little bit of God and a little bit of the world, we will see God, the more pure our heart is the more clearly we see God both in the bible and in our lives.   Mt5:9 " Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. A peacemaker is not merely someone who stops a fight between people or countries, but someone who experiences the peace of God and then shares it with those around them. and  " called the children of God" is a reference to adoption.  verse 10 and 11, I must admit are not my favorites, lets be honest it seems like this kinda sucks. But oh the blessing that comes with it, and heres the thing, as a christian these things are going to happen anyway, so lets jump in with both feet and receive a blessing from God for it!  Mt 5:10-11 " Blessed are they which are persecuted ( subject to illtreatment and hostility) for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven: (notice that Jesus said "for righteousness sake" not just because you're a jerk, lol there is no blessing for not being a nice person, it is in fact the other way around, lets look at verse 11 and we'll see it more clearly) V11" Blessed are you when shall reville you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely. for my sake." Jesus makes it clear that when we are misused because of our christianity, we are blessed both with makarious now and heaven later. So Jesus goes on to tell us that in the long run this is a very good thing. V12 " rejoice and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."  AMEN