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Trinity Community Church
Trinity Community Church
Red Letters - Portrait of a Christ Follower
What if everything you thought you knew about happiness and blessing was backward? In this sermon, Pastor Tyler Lynde kicks off our new series, “Red Letters,” with a deep dive into the Beatitudes from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. These words, spoken to a people desperate for hope after 400 years of divine silence, completely flip our modern understanding of what leads to a truly blessed life.
Jesus’s sermon wasn’t just a collection of nice sayings; it was a declaration of war against the world's value system. Where our culture says "blessed are the self-sufficient," Jesus says "blessed are the poor in spirit." While society often rewards the ruthless, Jesus promises blessing to the merciful and the meek. In this message, Tyler Lynde unpacks each of these radical statements, contrasting the fleeting mantras of our world with the eternal truth of God's Kingdom.
Discover why the Beatitudes are not a checklist of behaviors to earn God's favor, but a beautiful portrait of a heart transformed by the Holy Spirit. This is the core of the New Covenant—not relying on our own strength to follow external rules, but receiving a new heart and being empowered by God’s Spirit living within us. Tyler doesn't shy away from the hard truth that this path leads to a collision with the world, but he also reveals the magnificent promises attached to it: comfort, mercy, satisfaction, and being called a child of God.
Most importantly, see how Jesus himself is the perfect embodiment of every beatitude. He is both our example to follow and the enabler who makes it possible. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus secured every blessing He describes. Whether you're just exploring faith or have followed Jesus for decades, these ancient words carry fresh power to transform your perspective on what it truly means to live a blessed life.
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So we're starting a brand new sermon series today called Red Letters. Red Letters the words of Jesus found in the New Testament are often noted by them being written in red right and being written in red, and so there's one of these sections in the New Testament that is most prominent, probably, I would say, the greatest sermon ever preached. The greatest sermon ever preached, in my opinion, is the Sermon on the Mount, and these are Jesus's direct words. How many of you wish that you could be there, or could have been there to experience this yourself? Would you have liked to? Yeah, absolutely. But how many of you know that God saw fit to have it recorded for us word for word, or at least close to word for word, so that we would be able to talk about it?
Tyler Lynde:Over the next few weeks, this whole summer, we're going to be diving deep into the Sermon on the Mount, the red letters of Jesus, the words that he spoke as he was establishing his kingdom here on this earth. As he was establishing his kingdom here on this earth. We will see over the summer how Jesus gives his disciples a concise portrait of what it looks like to be a disciple, to be a follower of Jesus. What does that look like in real life? How do we put those on like a pair of jeans and wear them around? This whole sermon really speaks to all of it, and it really speaks mostly to the heart. It's the heart that matters most and that's what we're going to learn through all of these weeks. There's going to be lots of details and lots of things, lots of commandments and lots of different things that we're going to pay attention to, but in the end, it's really Jesus talking about the importance of where our heart is, where it's directed and what we're connected to with our hearts. Right, and so I'm really excited about it. Today's message is called Portrait of a Christ Follower.
Tyler Lynde:So let's look again at Matthew 4, verses 23, and we're going to read through chapter 5, verse 12. This is the Word of God. And he went throughout all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures and paralytics, and he healed them and great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain and when he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. And blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Tyler Lynde:Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for these red letters. We thank you, jesus, that you are the King of kings and Lord of lords, and we thank you that you came to this earth and that you spoke of a kingdom that is not of this world. And, father, we pray that, as we embark on this new series, lord, and the one on Wednesday night, the Blessed series as well we ask that you we embark on this new series, lord, and the one on Wednesday night, the blessed series as well, we ask that you would open the eyes of our understanding. We ask that we would see things that we've never seen before, that you would cause the truth that is found within your words to come alive within each and every one of us. And, lord, we don't want just behavior modification. We don't want a better version of ourselves. We want to look like you. We want you to intervene and to interchange and to translate and to change all of us so that we might serve you in a way that you deserve to be served. And, father, we thank you and praise you for taking these words this morning and blessing them and distributing them to your people, in Jesus' name, amen.
Tyler Lynde:So, for those of you who don't know, I grew up in Wyoming, and that's a state in the West, if you've never been out that way. For the size of the state it's the lowest population in the whole country, and there's a reason for that, although you wouldn't know it if you went there around July the 4th, but if you go around January the 4th it becomes quickly apparent that there's a reason why there's only half a million people living within the state. And so when I was between my 11 and 12-year-old years, we moved from Wyoming to get ready to Florida, to Fort Myers, florida. So my hometown in Wyoming was booming, and this was when everybody was there at one time was 15,000 people, right, anybody come from small town America, a few of you here, yeah, okay. So you know where I'm coming from. You know what I'm talking about? Very simple. We had, I think, one stoplight. We had a Kmart. We eventually got a Walmart. That changed and revolutionized everything, right? So, anyway, I digress. But we left that place. So, 15,000 people. We moved to Fort Myers, florida, where there were 250,000 people, and more than that during the wintertime.
Tyler Lynde:If you haven't noticed, people like to go to Florida in the winter. There's a reason for that, right. So the vast differences in these two places. You can imagine, culturally, for example, what a difference between the Wild West and then moving to this kind of a wild place in Florida as well. Different, different, lots of gangs and different things going on. The news was filled with all of these things that were occurring.
Tyler Lynde:Back in Wyoming it was more like you know well, we had a hailstorm and so farmer so-and-so lost his crops. In Florida it was a little different than that, right, also just from a weather standpoint. So in Wyoming we had basically four seasons, with one of them lasting longer than the rest, lots of snow, right. And in Florida we had two seasons and there was no snow. There was absolutely no snow where we lived in Florida. Okay, in Wyoming the critters were larger and they stayed outside primarily. In Florida the critters were tiny and all of them were fighting to get inside. And I can understand, because if you step outside for long, there's this thing called humidity. I don't know if you're aware of it, but in that humidity you want to get into the air conditioning as soon as you possibly can. Right. So vast differences between these two worlds.
Tyler Lynde:And we experienced this kind of change and even though we were still young at the time, my brother and I. It was still a big deal. It was very difficult at times. My point in kind, of telling that story is that we had to make major adjustments in our lives right, we had to change, almost every area of our lives changed in order for this new place to work for us. We had to adapt, we had to adjust, we had to grow accustomed to a new way of living. There were so many things that we never wore again once we moved to Florida right, jackets and scarves and all of that sort of thing. Everything was so different.
Tyler Lynde:As we begin our study this morning on the Sermon on the Mount, we observe something similar in a way, but much more important, happening. Jesus has come as a representative of heaven to introduce a new way of thinking and a new way of living, a new way of thinking and a new way of living. And this new way of living and thinking is based on a new covenant that God was bringing about. He was going to provide. Jesus was going to provide for this covenant by his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection and his ascension. He was going to implement. He was the emissary, he was God's representative that was coming to the earth to represent this new kingdom and this new covenant. Everything was about to change. Everything, literally, was about to change.
Tyler Lynde:Imagine the Jewish people for a minute, who have just experienced 400 years of silence from God. Everything grew quiet from heaven for 400 years and during that time, the Jewish leaders did not stop talking. They kept talking and talking and they kept adding and adding, and they kept putting more rules and more rules and more regulations and more behavior modification and more things that you needed to do, but I didn't necessarily need to do Right? Very, very common theme when people are in authority at times. And so this is what's happening. And all of these Jewish people that Jesus is encountering are living within that world, and not only that. They're on like their fourth captivity encountering, are living within that world, and not only that, they're on like their fourth captivity. Now Rome is overseeing and in charge of the Jewish nation, and they are there and they're heavy handed and they're living within this time and within this day, within this reality.
Tyler Lynde:And when Jesus comes on the scene, it must have seemed very surreal. Obviously, he was aware of everything, and so it wasn't surreal to him, but it must have been surreal to all of the rest, who had grown accustomed to this time of silence, to this time of God not seeming like he was anywhere to be found, to this time where we had to do more and we had to do more, and we had to do more to try to somehow be good enough for God to pay attention to us. And here steps a man into this earth who's teaching something radical. He's not teaching about a list of do's and don'ts, but he's teaching about what it looks like to live as children of the kingdom of God. He's teaching the people something again that they had never experienced, that they had never although there are plenty of indicators in the Old Testament that if the Jewish leaders had paid attention to, could have led them to the point of realizing this was to come, this was the natural, this was always God's plan from the very beginning. And so now the implementation of this plan, the working, the outworking of this plan is occurring in the life and time of Jesus. His revolutionary teaching is not only something they've never heard before, but it's backed up by signs and wonders and miracles. People are getting healed, people are getting set free, people of relationships are getting healed, people are getting set free, relationships are being restored. People's minds are being cleared of the clutter and everything that had caused them to have anguish, because Jesus came to set free every part of humanity the spirit, soul and body, soul and body and again. They should have maybe known this and their leaders should have paid attention.
Tyler Lynde:In Isaiah 61, verses 1 through 3, it says the spirit of the Lord God is upon me. This is a prophecy concerning Jesus, written thousands of years before he ever stepped foot on this planet. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness.
Tyler Lynde:The planting of the Lord. For what reason? That he may be glorified. God is glorified to the maximum when the purpose of Jesus Christ is accomplished here in this earth. And Jesus made it clear from the very beginning of his ministry that this was the purpose and the reason why he came. He came to set the captives free. He came to initiate and to institute a new kingdom. He came to set in place a new covenant. And we, my friends, sit here today based on these realities and these truths. These realities and these truths, now picture with me as Jesus climbs up this mountain. Think about all of the crowds that have been pressing around him as we read through the description people from all over, from Gentile lands, from Samaritan places, tens. I mean, we don't even know that the crowd is not numbered for us, but we know that there were many pressing up against him.
Tyler Lynde:You imagine if you had somebody in your life that was in desperate need of a touch from God. You do anything that you could to get close to him, that there might be a chance for him to speak the words, to lay his hands or to do something to bring about transformation in the life of those that you love. And so Jesus, being pressed by the crowd, turns and climbs up a mountain. And as he climbs up the mountain, he turns around and he sits down and imagine this with me, this vast kind of what would you call that Slope, a vast slope below him, and then it runs into the Sea of Galilee and the Sea of Galilee is out beyond him.
Tyler Lynde:And you imagine all of the disciples, those that had been called, even just recently, to be followers of him, come and gather around Jesus, they get close to him. He probably even calls them a little closer, a little closer. I think we should move our front rows up a little bit next week, just call him a little closer. And I'm not Jesus, I'm not saying that, but just they wanted to just get a little closer, just to be near him, just to be able to really hear every word that he was going to speak, that anything that he wanted to impart to them, that they were putting themselves in a position to be ready to receive from him. And you can imagine that the crowds that had been pressing against Jesus, and now there's sort of this wall of disciples and the crowds push up against them, I'm certain, and they're gathered around all across the slope and then embedded in the crowd. Most likely although it doesn't say here most likely there although it doesn't say here most likely there were religious leaders, religious leaders who were beginning to create in their minds this opinion of Jesus, and the thing that they realized more than anything else was that the followers that they had last week were following Jesus this week, and so people who have power and who have control in other people's lives were beginning to feel that pain and that hurt, and so they were beginning to implement, or to begin to think about how they could implement, a plan to bring an end to this.
Tyler Lynde:So a lot of times, when people read the Sermon on the Mount, they ask the question who was Jesus speaking to? And I would say yes, was he speaking to the disciples? Absolutely, we know that. He specifically said the disciples came around him and he spoke to them. Yes, was he speaking to the crowd? Obviously he didn't. I don't think he whispered so that the crowd couldn't hear. What did he know about the crowd? Who was in the crowd? Jesus saw the crowd as potential for future followers, for future kingdom citizens, right, and even though there were those that were embedded in the crowd that probably would be described later as enemies of Jesus, how many of you know, there were probably some whose hearts were pricked when he spoke these words of life and they even themselves. Maybe even Nicodemus, who knows? I know the Ch chosen kind of shows that version of things. Maybe even Nicodemus or others who later did become followers of Jesus were in some of these crowds listening to these words from God. Similar to the old covenants, mountaintop experience that produced 10 commandments written on stone. Now Jesus begins to speak and he outlays eight blessings, eight blessings that were a part of this new covenant, this new way of looking at things. We call them beatitudes. Right, these are the kingdom realities based on the new covenant. There's some debate over again who he was talking to, but we covered that.
Tyler Lynde:Let's look first at the promises given to new covenant participants. So we're talking about disciples here. Let's look at it from that perspective, right? So here's the promises. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Does that sound good? Thumbs up. All right, work with me here. They shall be comforted. Want that? They shall inherit the earth? They shall be satisfied. Well, no, I don't really want that. They shall receive mercy. Two thumbs up. They shall see God Come on and they shall be called sons of God. Anyone again, you want to sign up? Get your name on that list. Talk about great and precious promises, Great and precious promises.
Tyler Lynde:I think it's important here to mention the fact that the followers of Jesus live in a kingdom that is characterized by the already and not yet concept. What do I mean by that? The kingdom of God. How many of you know that Jesus came and established the kingdom of God here in this earth? Right, he spoke about the kingdom. He showed what the kingdom looked like by what he did while he was here on this earth and he left. He was given all authority and he put us as believers. He gave authority to us to be citizens of this kingdom and to walk out his kingdom rule here on this earth, right? But how many of you know there's still some things present around us that are not kingdom, right? How many of you know people as long as Jesus?
Tyler Lynde:At one point in time, jesus is going to return, but until that point in time, everyone who lives on this earth will have an expiration date. So glad we don't know, like it's not tattooed on us somewhere. All of us will have an expiration date. We will all eventually die. But how many of you know that the kingdom of God, death has no part in the kingdom of God?
Tyler Lynde:So we have this already kingdom, these things that have been established, and yet there's these things that have not yet seen their complete fulfillment. That makes sense. And when will that happen? Anybody know? When will we see the fulfillment of all things? No, when will we see the fulfillment of all things? On that day, when Jesus returns. The process is called glorification. All of us will be made new. We'll be like him. All of the sickness and disease and mental anguish and all of those things will fall off and we will walk with him and serve him and serve with him throughout all eternity. This is what we have to look forward to. But how many of you know as far as it being paid for, as far as it being accomplished 100%, but how many of you know we're living in the in-between and it will come, but we're not completely there yet.
Tyler Lynde:So let's look at this now. The promises of God aren't based on our performance, but on Jesus. If we read the Sermon on the Mount and we think about me first, we'll get ourselves in trouble, because there's a lot of things in the sermon that look like they're saying that I need to do something. And how many of you know? It's true, there are things that we need to do, but the reason why we do them, the motivation of our hearts, what gives us the empowerment that we need to fulfill the things that are spoken to us in the Sermon on the Mount? We have to get that clear first. So let's clear that.
Tyler Lynde:Up Titus 3, verses 4 through 7, says but when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of Whose work creates the ability for us to enjoy the promise. Our work or Jesus's work? Yes, this is the time when that Sunday school answer is completely appropriate. Jesus is the right answer. He paid the price. He did the work. We can't earn these promises. We don't deserve, deserve these promises. But how many of you know, like the song says, he gives them anyway. He gives them to us. It's his good pleasure to bless us with his promises.
Tyler Lynde:So as we read through the beatitudes, we can falsely see them as a cause and effect based solely on our own effort. Make no mistake, effort is required on our part, but the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us equips us to do this good work. That is one of the key differences between the Old Testament and the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In the Old Covenant, god was with them, but how many of you know, in the New Covenant, god dwells in us by the Holy Spirit. Jesus paid the price so that the Holy Spirit himself could move on the inside of us, equipping us, giving us the things that we need to be able to accomplish the will of God. Giving us the things that we need to be able to accomplish the will of God. That's amazing. It's amazing.
Tyler Lynde:The new covenant is possible to live under because God gives us a new heart. I think Clem might have mentioned this last week Ezekiel 36. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you shall be my people and I will be your God. Again. Old Testament prophecy finding its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Testament prophecy finding its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. So, because of these truths, we can live differently. We do not have to represent the culture of this world. We can live based on having a citizenship in another kingdom. We have the ability to do that. We have the voice of the Lord speaking to us on the inside of us, helping us, encouraging us, convicting us, working his work on the inside of us.
Tyler Lynde:So let's look at the blessings. We're going to just quickly run through these. Stick with me. Number one blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This isn't notice, it doesn't stop at. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Notice, it doesn't stop at. Blessed are the poor. It qualifies what kind of poverty. It's talking about the poor in spirit. What's the difference between the two? It's the poor in spirit who are blessed because they understand their desperate need for God.
Tyler Lynde:What does it mean to be poor in spirit? It means to recognize I can't do it. I've tried, I've done everything I possibly could in my own strength, with my own, you know, whatever word you wanna use, and I fail miserably. I cannot accomplish this on my own. It's a humbling thing to admit your absolute inability to follow God without his help. And, by the way, this isn't just talking about salvation. How many of you know, this is a daily realization that we need to have. We need to wake up every morning and just repeat to the Lord I can't do today without you. I can't make it through this day and the decisions that I have to make without you, I'm desperate.
Tyler Lynde:The mantra of this world, the anti-beatitude is blessed are those who believe that they don't need God, for they make themselves God. That's the culture of this world and that's what the world preaches. And how many of you know, it's easy for us to get sucked up into that whole mindset, but it's not the kingdom mindset. This is not who we are. What is the Jesus factor in all of this? The only one who never needed to be poor in spirit chose to be poor in spirit as an example to us all. We read this in Philippians 2, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Jesus was poor in spirit and he lives on the inside of us by his spirit, and he can enable us and equip us to walk in the same way. Isn't that good news? Second, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Tyler Lynde:When you think of the word mourn, there's a lot of different directions. We could go with that. There's a lot of reasons to mourn, but the mourning described here is primarily based on an understanding of how sin affects our relationship with God. It should break our heart when our action or our lack of action, when our thought life, when the habits that we have in our lives. It should break our hearts when we realize the way that God is affected by those things. How many of you know that God is waiting to comfort his people? God is waiting to show mercy on his people. Even the ability to be sorrowful and to show signs of repentance is a gift from God.
Tyler Lynde:2 Corinthians 7 says this, for godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. The mantra of this world is blessed are those who rejoice when others fail, when other people fail, for they will feel better about themselves. How many of you know? You can play the win-lose game all day long with the comparison game. You can find somebody in this world that you can point at and say I'm glad I'm not like them, and you can find somebody else that you can say I wish I was like them. That's not how citizens of the kingdom think. We recognize, we acknowledge, we pray, we live lives that understand God. Change my heart, because I don't want to break your heart. Jesus wept over the sin of others in Matthew 23, and I'm not going to read it for the sake of time, but he's crying and weeping over the state of Jerusalem before he goes to the cross, the city of prophets. If anybody should know he's saying you should know. He said I've desired to gather you up like a mother hen gathers her chicks. I have this desire. I want to do this, but you're pushing me away. You're not sorrowful, you're not grieving for the right things. Next blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Tyler Lynde:We don't talk about meekness, hardly at all. Right, it's not a part of our vocabulary very often. What does it mean to be meek. It does not mean being weak. A lot of times, people equate it with weakness. Meekness is strength under God's control. It is self-discipline and restraint. It means being teachable and gentle. It is characterized by humility and having a good attitude. Are you meek? Are you uniquely meek? The mantra of this world is blessed are those with a bad attitude, for they will use it to control others. That's not meekness, that's weakness. That's weakness. Sarcasm is the weapon of the weak. My friends Just had to throw that out there. We'll move on.
Tyler Lynde:The Jesus factor Jesus showed strength through restraint. If anybody could have been fully given permission to not be meek, it could have been Jesus. He could have called down thousands upon thousands of angels, and yet he didn't. Jesus showed strength through restraint. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. We can be meek because the one who is meek lives on the inside of us, stirring us up, changing us.
Tyler Lynde:Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Or another version says for they shall be filled. It's dangerous to talk about hunger, about this time of the day, in this part of the sermon Might hear some growling and some grumbling within some tummies in the room. You can tell I've been around grandkids who talk about tummies Too much. Pooh Bear, okay, anyway, what is it that you're most desperate for? If you could list your top five things that you wish that you could have, what would those things be? Maserati, a perfect marriage. I could go on and on.
Tyler Lynde:What is it that we desire more than anything else? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. What is this righteousness about? It's not about behavior, it's about relationship. It's about relationship. What is God wanting to do here for those who hunger and thirst? He's wanting to open up himself to them. God is not shy, he's not embarrassed about himself, he's open and he wants us to see him and to know him as he truly is. Do we desire to grow deeper in our walk with God? Does spending time with him affect greatly the way that we live?
Tyler Lynde:The mantra of this world is blessed are those who do things the way that they want to, for they will feel like they are satisfied, and the Jesus factor is Jesus' relationship with his father was the most important priority of his life, somebody who probably didn't need it in the same way that we need it. What was the focus of everything? His father. How many times does he speak about? Everything that I do and everything that I say is what I've talked to my father about, what he's told me, even his obedience to death on the cross.
Tyler Lynde:Father, there's any way. Let this cut past for me. Yet, not my will, but your will. Be done. Jesus is our example. We can do this by God's grace, because the spirit of God lives on the inside of us. Don't think of this as cause and effect. Think of this as this is what God's given us, and all of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, who endure to the end, will participate in all of these blessings, all of the promises we will experience and we are experiencing even now.
Tyler Lynde:Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. To show mercy is to acknowledge that it isn't earned or deserved, but to give it anyway. You know, mercy isn't needed unless there's sin involved. Understanding how much mercy we need and have received should inspire us to show mercy toward others. I desperately need the mercy of God. I know me, I know my past, I know my present and trust me, I can honestly stand up here before you today and say that without the mercy of God I would not be anything.
Tyler Lynde:The mantra of this world is Blessed are those who show no mercy, for they will climb the proverbial ladder. We cannot live according to the sayings of the kingdom of this world. The culture and climate of this world cannot be our directive. We must fight hard to push aside and to cast off. The culture and climate of this world cannot be our directive. We must fight hard to push aside and to cast off the burdens of the wrong culture and the wrong kingdom. Jesus is mercy and his loving kindness is matchless. How many of you can amen that His mercy is endless? He is endless.
Tyler Lynde:Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. What is one of the key characteristics of children of God? We should be known as people who walk in peace. Romans 5, verse 1, says this. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. If we have peace with God, and the peace of God is upon us, how many of you know we should create peace wherever we go? Some of you, wherever you go, looks like the Tasmanian devil or Linus has been there. That is not what it means to be a peacemaker. We should be mending lives, we should be reaching out. We should be finding peace in the midst of the storm. We should be filled with love. We should be filled with love. And when I say those things again, I remind you it's all available to us. What a great gift Jesus has given us.
Tyler Lynde:The world says blessed are the troublemakers, for at least they will be known. The world says blessed are the troublemakers, for at least they will be known. When people describe you to others, do they use words like peacemaker? They should. And finally, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Notice what he says Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, not blessed are those who are persecuted for doing something stupid. Some people have a victim mindset and it doesn't matter where they are, what environment they find themselves in. Eventually they're going to be feeling like others are out to get them Right.
Tyler Lynde:We, as citizens of the kingdom, cannot afford to live in that kind of life, that kind of world. In ourselves, within ourselves, the mantra of the world is blessed are you when you are liked by others, for then your ego will grow. I just want to fit in. I don't want to ruffle any feathers. I have to be really careful, not to mention Jesus. My workplace, I understand. I understand. I understand we do have to live within the systems of this world and we can't be defiant in those things. My question is when somebody in your office needs prayer, do they know that they can come to you? When they have questions about life, who are they asking those questions to?
Tyler Lynde:We have an opportunity as children of God, as citizens of another kingdom, to introduce the kingdom of God to people who don't know about it. We assume that because we live in America, everybody knows. No, even people who call themselves Christians. Many of them are not living with the kingdom mindset. They're still attempting somehow to be good enough to get to God, to gain his favor for today, for him to smile upon me. God is everlasting. He has everlasting joy in his heart for his children. Remember the promise they will be sons of God. We are God's kids. I know as a dad, I am so proud, stinking proud of my kids and I would go to the ends of the earth for them, as I'm sure everyone else here would. God loves us. Let that settle in. I'd rather be loved by God than liked by everybody else.
Tyler Lynde:If we live the way we're supposed to live, by God's grace, by his spirit living on the inside of us, we are going to make other people uncomfortable. There will be people who will move away from us at the lunch table. There will be people, including your family members, who will uninvite you to certain things. Now, don't be that person that gets uninvited for the wrong reasons, right? How did Jesus show us this? Jesus suffered like no other and he offers his kingdom to those who join him in suffering.
Tyler Lynde:Listen to the conclusion of this passage. Blessed are you. When others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account, rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You want to be called great in the kingdom of God. Let's follow after him. Let's be willing, no matter what the cost. Again, by the grace of God, because of the work of Jesus and through the ever-present help of the Holy Spirit, let's live as citizens of another kingdom. Amen. Would you stand to your feet with me? I feel a little embarrassed because it was such a quick gloss over of these beautiful truths. But I'm not too embarrassed because, guess what? We have these Wednesday night meetings coming up and we're going to go deep. We're going to take a week on each of these and really kind of dig and mine these things deeply. So I appreciate you considering coming and being a part of that. Okay, let's pray together.
Tyler Lynde:Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the revolutionary life of Jesus Christ. We thank you for the revolutionary life of Jesus Christ. We thank you, lord, that you saw fit, in the right time, in the right place, for him to show up in this earth as an emissary for the kingdom of heaven. We thank you, lord, that through Jesus's life and his words and the signs and wonders, and through his death and burial and resurrection and ascension and the process that he went through of raising up others who would carry on the work that he begun, all the way down to us, lord, we thank you that we are citizens of another kingdom and, lord, we thank you that you promise that, as we live as citizens of this kingdom, that you will bless us, that you will bless us in this life and in the life to come, and so, father, I pray that you would help us to turn our attention towards you, to refocus, to make sure that we are not allowing ourselves to be encumbered by the ways of this world, that we would not dance to the beat of the wrong drummer, that the mantras of this world would not be the things that we look to as ways of living. Help us, father. We pray to have kingdom impact, because yours is the glory and the power and the praise. Lord, ultimately, it's really not about us, it's about your glory, it's about your kingdom. Thank you for inviting us to be a part of it.
Tyler Lynde:Lord, I pray for those that are here this morning, who are watching online, who have never stepped into kingdom citizenship. I pray, lord, that you would give them the grace to be able to acknowledge their need, to recognize that they need mercy, that they are sinners, and that they would speak to you, lord, from the depths of their heart and ask you to forgive their sins and to cleanse them, and to give Lord from the depths of their heart and ask you to forgive their sins and to cleanse them and to give them a new start and a new beginning and to make them a citizen of heaven. Father, I pray that they would be able to acknowledge that they believe in Jesus Christ and the work that he accomplished for them. I pray that that would happen. I also pray that they would be able to be a part of a Christian community, whether it's this one or another that would help walk with them and disciple them and help them to know what it means to be a Christian. I pray for them even today.
Tyler Lynde:Lord, would you move? Let your kingdom come in their lives and let your will be done. Father, we give you glory and honor again for everything that you've accomplished here this day. And, father, we want to take this home with us. We don't want to just walk out these doors and forget. We want to apply these truths in our lives. We want to recognize when the Holy Spirit is speaking to us, helping us, encouraging us, exhorting us, comforting us. Father, I pray that you would bless and keep your people. I pray that you would cause your face to shine upon them and be gracious to them. I pray that you would lift up your countenance upon them and give them peace In the mighty name of Jesus, amen, Amen.
