Underdog

If you're an Aussie, I'm sure you love the underdog. We love stories of the underdog. The satisfaction of seeing someone smash all expectations, to pull off an amazing comeback, to leave their opposition flabbergasted. And us Aussies, we've got a very strong kinship, a very strong history of underdogship. And I'm sure tomorrow, as we celebrate Australia Day, there's going to be some reflection on this as well.

Foxtel, I can guarantee you, is going to run some things on the ANZAC Day, and this year at ANZAC Day, as they celebrate a hundred years of the ANZAC, I'm sure there will be plenty of talk about the underdog Aussies. The Aussie story is full of it. We are the little brother of the big brother, England. We have the harsh climates. We have the isolation that we're always warring against us.

And for us, there's something romantic, something tantalising about the idea of the underdog. But I dare say that it is only romantic and tantalising once the underdog has won. Once the underdog has become the big dog and has overcome the obstacles. While you are the underdog and while you are marginalised and oppressed or ignored, then the underdog would often rather be the dead dog. They'd rather be the six foot underdog.

Now perhaps you've experienced this before. It might be nice to be nostalgic and remember and reflect on a time where you were under pressure, where you were marginalised or oppressed, but you made it out alive. Much more than that, you came out stronger because of it. You were, you came out more successful. Or perhaps you are in a situation of the underdog right now.

Facing obstacles, experiencing pain, experiencing the struggles of that. This morning, we're going to look at a part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter five, which talks about the underdog. But a specific underdog. A godly underdog. Individuals who He identifies are ones who suffer because of their allegiance to Himself and to God and to the kingdom of God.

Many people, whether you are a believer or not, can relate to being marginalised. But Jesus here is wanting to make a very specific point and offer a very specific hope. So if you do have your Bibles, and I think you can follow along on the screen as well, please turn with me to Matthew five. And these are the opening statements to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Matthew five, verses one to 12.

Now when He, who is Jesus, saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him, and He began to teach them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So far, our reading. This passage, which we read, you may know quite well, is called the Beatitudes. And it's a term that is hundreds, thousands of years old.

If you look up the term "beatitude" in the dictionary, they'll refer you to Matthew five. Technically, a beatitude literally means supreme blessedness. And you see Jesus obviously talks about the theme over and over again. Blessedness. To be blessed.

In the New Testament, the Greek word for "blessed," Makarios, means, according to the New Testament Theological Dictionary, to be overwhelmingly, to have an overwhelmingly distinct spiritual joy which accrues to someone from his salvation into the kingdom of God. An overwhelmingly distinctive spiritual joy which comes to someone from their salvation and the kingdom of God. Blessed, to be blessed, is a rich word when it's used here because it has many facets. On the one hand, it is emotional. It's got the idea of happiness, of joy.

It is emotional. It is also a word of commendation or congratulations. It is for someone who has done a job well, to be blessed. It is also to identify someone and their objective state. That they are lucky.

That they are fortunate. It is all those things tied into one. I've got a Muslim friend who uses that term, "blessedness," in these various ways when they speak, or when they use Arabic words as well. The idea that it can be translated to many things: as a congratulations, or to say that you're very fortunate, or just to say that you're very happy. It is all those things tied into one.

And so when Jesus starts His poetic verses with "blessed," keep this in mind: blessed are the poor in spirit. Lucky, fortunate, joyful, proud are the poor in spirit, Jesus is saying. Now there are eight beatitudes in verses three to ten. The first four, so the first half, speaks about a great reversal of fortunes.

Have a look there. The true disciple of Christ, while they may experience very serious discomfort in their life, will ultimately see their situations turned around. The poor in spirit are mentioned in verse three. Those who mourn or grieve in verse four. The meek, or the humble or the gentle in verse five.

And those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for fairness, for justice, in verse six. Jesus begins by saying that all His disciples who will experience these things will be comforted, will inherit treasures from God. The hungry will be filled, and the thirsty will be satisfied. Those first four beatitudes, we see a cosmic reversal of people's fortunes. The second half of the beatitudes talks about character traits.

And here we see godly qualities being rewarded. The merciful will receive mercy. The pure in heart will see God. The peacemakers will be called sons of God. And those persecuted for righteousness, those who suffer for doing the right thing by God, will receive the kingdom of heaven.

And so we see in the second half a much more personal, intimate relationship with God. You will be children of God. You will see God. You will receive His mercy. Second half highlights an astounding intimacy and relationship with God.

Now you may have also noticed, as we read this, the opening and the closing verses start with the same blessings. Verse three and verse ten talk about the same blessing: to receive the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who are persecuted, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And this bookends the beatitudes.

And just like all Hebrew poetry, when you see repetition, it means, look out. We would today in Australia highlight and underscore and put in bold this statement. This is what is happening here. Repetition means this is important. And so we see here that this is the big thing that Jesus is trying to make known.

The key blessing here is the kingdom of heaven. But why does Jesus give this to us? Why does Jesus start this great sermon that goes for two or three chapters, and He starts with these opening statements? I mean, He could have just started with a nice little joke about the KGB or something. Why does Jesus start with these statements?

Remember, verse one says that Jesus, while He sees the crowds, starts teaching His disciples. He's talking to His disciples, not to the crowds. It was to those who want to follow Jesus. And Jesus begins with His opening statement in this great sermon because He is touching on the deepest human need that exists. And that is the need or the desire for happiness.

Our deepest desire, the core need for our souls, is happiness. And Jesus begins by saying or talking about how to be happy. And the Bible is full of this acknowledgement. The Bible confirms that we are seeking happiness. The Bible often talks about blessedness, achievement of blessedness.

Psalm one: blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord. But almost everywhere blessedness is talked about, this is important, everywhere that blessedness is talked about, everywhere happiness is talked about, the Bible makes this one point: happiness can never be found directly. Happiness can never be found directly. Happiness is always and only a byproduct of seeking something else other than happiness.

We never read, blessed is the man who seeks blessedness. Happy is the one who desires happiness. Happy is the one who hunts for happiness. My question this morning is, if you know this, if you've been a Christian for a long time, if you've heard this before, then ask yourself, why are you not more happy? Never, ever does the Bible, never ever does Jesus say, blessed is the one who hungers and thirsts for happiness.

But hunger and thirst for righteousness, Jesus says, and you will be considered blessed. Seek or desire for something more than happiness, and you will receive happiness. Seek righteousness, and you will get happiness thrown in. Seek happiness over righteousness, and you'll receive neither. What Jesus is talking about here is so important.

That's why He begins with it. Because it drills down into the deepest, most intimate parts of who we are. Jesus is talking about the desire to be happy. The pursuit of happiness, which is the creed of the new world in America, the pursuit of happiness. But it's got a phenomenal twist because He says things like it is the perpetual underdog who will be happy.

And today, in the eyes of the world, the one who seeks righteousness, the one who seeks to do the right thing, well, he's generally going to be the one that goes hungry. He's generally going to be the one that earns less. He's the one that's going to fail more. But in Jesus' eyes, the one who seeks righteousness, not the one who seeks financial comfort, will be the one who's ultimately satisfied. And the teaching this morning is that the person who is truly happy is the person who has stopped trying so hard to be happy.

The person who sat down and asked, what am I really living for? What are my fundamental allegiances? And that is why Jesus goes on in the sermon in chapter six, verse 25, and He says, don't worry. Don't be anxious about anything, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He's saying the reason that you're unhappy, the reason that you're worried, is because you have made something else your trust and your confidence.

You have put your confidence in something else other than God. As long as you make happiness, as long as you make blessedness your highest priority, you will remain dissatisfied, and actually over the long term, you will be unhappy. Ask this question: why do we cheat? Why do we lie? Why will a husband or a wife cheat on their spouse, or someone in their relationship?

Why cheat in business? Why squeeze out some extra bit of money unfairly? Why is it we do these things? Because you seek the perceived happiness that these things will bring you. A different relationship.

An extra bit of cash for my jet ski. The Bible informs us that unless you have truly given your heart to God, who promises to renew and regenerate you, you will always be stuck in this cycle. The normal and the natural tendencies of our heart will always pursue this. And wait a minute, KJ. Don't bundle me into your generalisations here.

I am a man of principle. I have values. Honesty is a great idea. I love it. Fairness is a good guide for life.

But the reality is we see ourselves making exceptions to these principles all the time. We see that in the workplace all the time, don't we? Honesty is a great principle to have, unless there's a very easy mistake that has been overlooked, and no one is going to miss this money. The business has got heaps of it. Integrity, friendliness, compassion, they're all good values to have.

But before God opens your eyes to the reality, there is an overriding value that will always come out on top. And that is: I need to be happy. It will always win out over these great principles. But Jesus takes this unceasing pursuit, this desire that exists from one generation to the next, and we don't learn this lesson. It's been around since the beginning of human history.

Jesus takes this unceasing pursuit and He flips it around. Flips it on its head. Unfortunately, we can't spend another series looking at each of these amazing statements. It would be another eight week series. Two months of being in Matthew five, three to ten.

And it would be worth every week, I can guarantee you. But the main point that Jesus is wanting to make is this: if you want to be happy, show mercy. And mercy will be shown to you, and therefore you will be happy. If you want to be happy, be peacemakers, not people who pick fights, not prone to outbursts of anger or rage.

Be peacemakers. Be restorers, and you will be considered a son of the living God, and you will be happy. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, whose hearts ache for the pain in the people's lives around you, your hearts will be full. You will be satisfied, and therefore you will be happy. To be poor in spirit is to recognise your utter spiritual bankruptcy before God.

For example, that first line that Jesus says: to be poor in spirit is to recognise your utter spiritual bankruptcy before God. It is understanding that you have absolutely nothing of worth to offer God. When Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, He is declaring that we must recognise this bankruptcy of our own spiritual currency and the absolute inability of our own efforts to avoid self destruction. To be spiritually poor is to recognise that you are perilously positioned and that you need a saviour. Those who are poor in spirit receive the kingdom of heaven.

And with that, they receive the security and the safety and the protection of God, who is King of that kingdom. And therefore, they will be happy. Now lastly, I want to make the final point about the beatitudes, and I really, really encourage you this week to go and reflect on each stanza, each verse in this, and to memorise it, because it will change your life. The final point I want to make is that in this there is also an aspect of the now and the not yet. That it has arrived and that we can have happiness now.

But there is also a time coming where this happiness will be complete. And that not all of us throughout our life will be completely happy or satisfied. That we will face disappointment still. That we will still experience pain. Those who are mourning may continue to mourn, and there is no immediate turnaround when you hear these words.

But it is the hope, it is the hope of these words that have enduring value for us. All through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is driving us past our physical existence, past the way that the world views blessedness, and He pushes us to look beyond to something better. But unlike Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, when the curtain is pulled back, we find something more spectacular than we expected. Perhaps you've seen this. If you have kids, you'll probably know this.

A young boy breaks his absolute favourite toy, and man, oh man, he is beside himself with grief. The world just comes crashing down upon them, having broken or lost this toy. They are inconsolable. Yet their broken hearts can be soothed very quickly with the promise of Dad coming home and fixing their toy. Not only do the tears dry up, but they will patiently wait, full of anticipation, while their broken toy waits to be fixed by Dad.

The degree of patience and comfort of that child is dependent on how much trust they have in Dad being able to fix this toy. How much comfort, how much peace I have is dependent on that. And it's the same for us. The degree of patience and comfort and happiness we experience now is dependent on how much we trust that God is able to fix the problem. If we are persecuted for righteousness, we do not give up being righteous.

We trust and we hope and we cling to the God who will make it right. The God who will bless this righteousness. And in that we find happiness. Pursue righteousness, pursue mercy, pursue purity, and you will receive blessings and happiness sooner or later. Experience pain in that process, and you will experience peace even now, because you know that God is going to fix this.

And we know that God began this amazing process when He sent Jesus to preach this. And that Jesus came to us, His son, who was the guarantee of the hope we cling to. God will fix things because He started that process in Jesus, and we can see that. At the end of the Bible, right at the end, Revelation 21, verse five, Jesus says to the apostle John, look, I am making all things new. I give you a glimpse of the future, John. And these things are being renewed and restored.

I want to encourage you this morning to live by these words, to practise them, to make them the creed of your life, to be peacemakers, to be merciful, to hunger and thirst after righteousness, to be pure, so that you can see God, that you may be called sons and daughters of the living God. Learn it. Repeat it. Live by it. Jesus began to teach His disciples, saying, blessed are the underdogs, while they wait with hope for God to make everything right again.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for all this encouragement. Thank you that our hearts may be comforted, that we may find just a little bit of sanctuary and peace, that You are our Lord in control, that You will not let us fall, and Lord, that ultimately there is a time coming where our present sufferings are not even worth comparing to the future glory that awaits us. Lord, it is good to also know, and not to, that we don't have to feel guilty about our pursuit of happiness, that this is something that is inherent in us. It is a healthy and normal thing to desire happiness, but Lord, where we look for it or how we attain it is ultimately what makes or breaks this happiness.

Help us, Lord, to find happiness in righteousness, in justice, in mercy, in making peace. Lord, help us even to find happiness in our mourning. And Lord, I pray that as we wrestle with these words, as we learn to live our life by them, Father, that You will unleash upon us a flood of joy that cannot be taken away, that no circumstance or condition can steal from us, that will drill and bore its way to our deepest recesses of our soul. Father, a joy and a hope that cannot be shaken. And so, Father, as we bring this before You, we ask that You will bless us in it.

Lord, thank you for Your son, Jesus. Thank you that He came to us to teach us this. Thank you, Lord, that He came to show us this as an example. But finally, Father, thank you that through His death and His resurrection, He has made it possible to even long for this. Thank you, Lord, that You are working in our heart.

You are in the process of making us and our hearts new. And we give You permission, Lord, to continue doing that. In Jesus' name, we pray these things. Amen.