Befuddling Beatitudes

Befuddling Beatitudes
Sunday, March 24, 2019

Luke 6:20-26, Deuteronomy 28:1-13

Many recognize that they are blessed and are grateful.  Some know that the first designation of blessings are the Creation Blessings, benefiting all of God’s creation.  Then we recognize the Covenant Blessings revealed to Moses, under the Mosaic Covenant.  The pronouncement of those blessings is referred to as beatitudes.  We then recognize the New Covenant Beatitudes given by Jesus.  But we see the contrast in the covenants, because the Mosaic Covenant also specified curses for breaking the covenant.  The Mosaic Covenant dictated earthly rewards for obedience and earthly punishment for disobedience.  The New Covenant of Jesus reveals possible earthly suffering for obedience and earthly comfort for rejection and disobedience.

Our Intentions Must Be To Bless God. Our focus must be to bless, revere and please God.  To obey God may result in unfavorable conditions in a worldly society devoted to rejecting Him.  But our suffering for the Kingdom’s sake yield incredible eternal rewards.  Moses’ Covenant emphasized earthly rewards, but Jesus’ New Covenant emphasizes heavenly rewards.

Favorable/Satisfactory Conditions May Lure Us Away From Satisfying Our Covenant Commitment. We can become so satisfied and comfortable in good times that we forget to adhere to our responsibilities to God’s commands under the New Covenant. We willingly adopted the obligations which lead to eternal rewards.

We Must Learn How To Transform Curses Into Blessings. Jesus showed by example of transforming curses into blessings with His sacrificial death on the cross.  He transformed “Cursed is he that hangs upon a tree” into the blessing of redemption from sin for all who believe in Him.