Paul Daugherty - Jesus' First Sermon
We’re starting a new series called Red Talks, Red Talks, not Ted Talks, but Red Talks. And red is the color of the words of Jesus in your Bible. If you have a Bible that’s been translated New King James Version, NIV, NLT, King James Version, oftentimes the Bible is black and white until you get to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And then when you get there, you start to see red. I wanna title this message, «The First Sermon of Jesus,» Jesus’s first message. And if you’re in Matthew 5:1, Jesus was on this mountaintop. Thousands of people had gathered to Him. And He sees these crowds as they’re seated, if you’ve ever seen the TV show «The Chosen,» you see this large mountaintop with thousands of people gathered. And Matthew, the writer, is sitting there. He was a tax collector.
I love that Jesus hung out with sinners, like you and me. And he’s got Matthew, and Matthew’s probably not made all the best choices in his life, but he wants to follow Jesus. Is there anyone in the room that just wants to follow Jesus? You may not have made all the most amazing choices, but you want to follow? That’s the best choice you can make right there. No matter what regrets you came in here with, no matter what shame or guilt, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So Matthew’s sitting down and Jesus starts off the sermon, «Blessed are the poor».
Now, if I was to ask the question in the room, «Who wants to be poor?» very few people would lift their hands up, like I’m trying to make it, man, I’m trying to pay my bills. But Jesus wasn’t talking about poor in the sense of finances. He was talking about poor in the sense of your spirit. He said, «Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven». Then He continues, He says, «Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth».
These are called the Beatitudes, the blessings. Jesus is talking to His church, the very first group that would follow Him, and He says, «You’re blessed when you’re weeping. You’re blessed when you’re mourning. You’re blessed when you are weak. You’re blessed when you are humble. You’re blessed when you’re broken. You’re blessed when your spirit is crushed. You’re blessed when you’re hungry and thirsty. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy».
Now, Jesus would go on to say a whole lot of other things, like when you get punched in the face, don’t punch the guy back. We’ve seen this happen in our own church with my dad. He got punched in the face at an altar call. Jesus says, «Turn the other cheek». Jesus says, «You’ve heard an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but I say pray for your enemies. Love your enemies. Love those who persecute you». Jesus had this upside down kingdom. It was all about if you want to go high, you gotta get low. If you wanna be powerful, you gotta be weak. If you wanna be in charge, you gotta be a servant. If you want to be blessed, you gotta be the one that’s blessing others. See, our world was all about, our society in that time, the Roman Empire was teaching this kingdom of we take it physically, violently, we flex our muscles.
Even the Pharisees, they flexed their spiritual, self-righteous, prideful acts, like, «I’ve tithed, I’ve attended church, I’m the greatest in the kingdom of heaven». But Jesus says, «No, no, no, the greatest is not the proudest. The greatest is not the most confident in their own deeds. The greatest is poor in spirit. The greatest is meek». And then He gets to the mercy part. And to understand this part, you gotta go to Matthew 7, which is part of the same sermon, and we’re gonna work backwards. But I want to go to Matthew 7:1. Jesus says, «Do not judge or you too will be judged».
Now this is all part of his very first sermon. Jesus was hitting a home run with this message, but it was also stepping on a lot of people’s toes. Jesus says, «In the same way you judge,» now He’s connecting this with mercy, in the same way you show mercy, you’re gonna receive mercy. In the same way you judge people, you’re gonna be judged back. And with the measure you use, that same measure is gonna come back to you. And then He says, «Why do you look at the speck»? I got a speck with me. It’s a toothpick, but it’s also a speck. He says, «Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye»?
Pastor Ty, I need your help. I found the speck in Pastor Ty’s eye. Oh, I found it. It’s right there. You better deal with your sin, brother. You better deal with that issue. Jesus says, «Why are you so focused on the speck, and you pay no attention to the two by four that’s sticking outta your eye socket, bro». And you’re like, hey, this girl just came into church and she is a mess, man. This guy, he’s messed up. These people, this family is broke, they’re messed up. And Jesus says, «You judge so many people in the church». Like you can’t wait to throw your stone at the latest person who just fell, morally. You can’t wait to gossip about the latest girl that just did something she shouldn’t have done. And Jesus says, «You pay no attention». It’s getting quiet in this charismatic church. «You pay no attention to the plank problem». Maybe we should title this sermon, «Get the Plank Outta Your Life».
Let’s title that, turn to the person next to you, «get the plank outta your life». Jesus says, «How can you deal with this little thingy in her life, in his life, in your husband’s life, in your wife’s life, when you got this thing staring back at you»? Because when you point one finger, you got four fingers pointing back at you. Well, maybe three. The thumb is somewhere. The whole Sermon on the Mount was about dealing with your own plank, dealing with your own stuff, dealing with your own heart. Because in a society where so many of the Israelites were pointing fingers at people, throwing stones at the latest sinner, Jesus came to preach a very internal, personal sermon to every listener, moms, dads, sons, daughters, grandparents, Pharisees, Sadducees, tax collectors.
Jesus said, «Hey, I know you think you got it all together, that you’re better than the other sinners. But I came to preach a sermon that confronts everybody». Let’s deal with the plank. So I’ll take that, because that’s on me too. So with that, let’s go back to verse three. «Blessed are the poor in spirit». What does this mean, and what does this have to do with your plank and my plank? The poor in spirit are people who know they need God. He’s not talking about poor people financially. He’s talking about people that are realizing, on the inside, I’m sick and I need a great physician. Jesus said, «I didn’t come for those who think they don’t need a doctor I came for those who need a doctor».
Jesus said, «I didn’t come for those who are spiritually prideful about how awesome they are in church. I came for those who walked into church going, man, without the mercy of God, I am nothing, like without His grace, without the cross, my righteousness is filthy rags. I did a couple of good things this week, but to be honest, man, I am a sinner in need of a Savior». How many of y’all would say that is me? I need the mercy and grace of God. Now listen, I grew up in Word of Faith Church. That’s Victory right here, this is a faith church. But sometimes we can take that mindset and go, «I’m the head and not the tail, Paul. I’m above and not beneath. I don’t have any issues».
And we fall into this ditch of thinking God wants us to faith our way, away from humility and brokenness. God is more attracted to a broken humility than He is a spiritually prideful, arrogant, like I’ve got this all together. It’s a very healthy, like we gotta have this balance where we carry a spirit of faith, but that faith is cloaked in humility. The faith doesn’t come from our good deeds, the faith comes from His good character. I don’t have faith in myself. I don’t have faith that I’m amazing. I have faith that God is good, even when I’m not. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Now, Jesus tells a story to illustrate what this means in Luke 18. And again, this is His words. So if you get mad today, just email Jesus, or tweet at Jesus, or post a story about Jesus. It’s His talks, it’s Red Talks, it’s Jesus talking to us. But in Luke, He talks about two different people. In verse nine He says to those who are confident of their own righteousness, to those who look down on sinners and everybody else, saying, «Paul, I see your son. He’s getting out of his seat right there. You need to get your family together, buddy. And I see what’s going on. And that girl, she walked in here with those Spandex pants and them tattoos». People just get so judgmental. Jesus says, «To everyone who’s looking down on».
And I was, when we were praising, worshiping, I saw some people and they were over there, and they were making out during the middle of church service. They’re not even worshiping. Well, what were you doing? I saw some sinners smoking a cigarette outside before they walked into church. Good, I’m glad they came to church today. This is a church for anybody. And if it’s not, then we’re toast, y’all, because we all need Jesus. Well, I don’t know Paul, I don’t know if we should let people in here that got addictions and stuff. That’s what the church is for, my friends. Let’s not miss the point of gathering. We don’t gather so that we all can look at how clean we are. We gather because we need Him to purify us and make us more like Him. We need the grace of God.
And Jesus says, there were people, and they were looking down, and they didn’t even realize it. They had planks in their own eyes. And Jesus says, «Two men went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector». Notice He doesn’t say one was a rich guy and one was a homeless man. Both of these guys had financial stability. Both of these guys probably had some issues in their life, differently. The Pharisee didn’t know it, but he had some spiritually prideful issues. The tax collector, he knew he had cheated people. He was a businessman. He knew he had made some money, probably unethically. And the Pharisee stands by himself. He’s watching the Asbury revival go on, and he is like, «These college kids repenting of sin, they’re so messed up, addicted to pornography and stuff».
And the Pharisee is like so cynical about any repentant person. He stands by himself. He says, «God, I thank you that I am not like the adulterers in the room. I’m not like the thieves, and the tax collectors, and the robbers. I fast twice a week, Jesus. I give a 10th of all my money». And Jesus says, «The tax collector, he stands at a distance». He’s somewhere in the shadows and he beats his chest. He says, «God, I’m a mess, man. I’m trying my best, God, but I know I fall short, as a dad, as a husband, as a businessman. God, I need your mercy, I need your grace. God, I need your help. Lord, please forgive me». And then Jesus turns to the crowd, He says, «I tell you that this broken man, poor in spirit, went home justified with God».
Not because he was so educated about the latest revivals, not because he had memorized all the scriptures in the Torah and all the worship songs. He went home justified with God because he was poor in spirit. «For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven». You want heaven to invade your marriage, stop acting like a know-it-all, stop acting like you are always right, stubbornly always the one that’s right. You can be right and still be wrong because without humility, God is repulsed by our egotistical, stubborn, self-righteous pride.
Matthew 5:4, «Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are those who mourn». What does He mean here? Jesus understands our tears because Jesus Himself mourned more than once. We see in John 11:35, that Jesus wept when He saw other people weeping over a brother who just died. When you are weeping, God is close to you. See, God is close to the broken hearted. He comforts those who are mourning. So often we’re afraid to show our tears, especially as men. We’ve been taught grown men don’t cry. Research actually shows that women cry 50 to 64 times a year, while men only cry five to 17 times a year. I probably fall into the 17 plus times a year. I don’t know, I’m just in touch with my emotions.
But the reality is research has shown, whether it’s happy tears, sad tears, angry tears, or regretful tears, the medical benefits of crying have been traced as far back as the Classical era. Did you know that when you mourn, when you weep, you’re allowing healing to enter into your heart. But weeping and mourning is a humbling thing to do. And then there’s a mourning that’s connected to sin, when you feel heartbroken over sin that you’ve committed, or sin that’s been committed against you. And Jesus says, «In this, this kind of mourning, this is where real transformation happens. This is where real change begins to take place».
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 7:10 that God actually delights in sorrow. When we are sorrowful for our sin, it results in true salvation, and there’s no regret that’s connected to that kind of sorrow. Have you ever just felt sorrowful for something you did? Like you, not just 'cause you got caught, but because you just felt like, man, that was so foolish. Three of us in the room, all right, I relate with you. The rest of y’all are like, you guys are killing it in life. But some of us have wept and felt it, and it’s painful. And you’re like, man, when is this gonna end? And God goes, «This is good, man. This is actually really good».
I know you wanna be happy. I know you want to go to like Big Splash, if it still exists, and get like donuts, and have a good time, and have a birthday party or something. But there’s something powerful about mourning. There’s something really sweet that God’s doing that only happens with tears. And those who sow in tears will reap a harvest of joy. Don’t repress the tears. Don’t hold them back. There’s something about releasing them that actually invites the healing ointment of God. Matthew 5:5, Jesus says, «Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth».
Now again, we’re in a society where we wanna flex our strength. We’re like, hold up, I’m the greatest. You know… Leaders who walk into an office as like the heads, the CEO and say, «Everybody listen to me. I know what I’m doing. I got all the answers. I got it all figured out. Just follow me, and I’ll never lead you wrong,» those leaders are not the leaders the world is looking to follow anymore. It’s leaders that go, «Guys, I don’t have it all figured out but together we can do this». Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is this humble spirit that goes, «I don’t know it all, and I can’t do it all, and I need help, and I surrender». He says, «Those who are meek actually inherit the Earth».
This is why we gotta get low. Your only path forward is humility. Your only path forward is meekness. It’s here. God says, «That’s what I delight in, just a broken, meek, poor spirit, that says, 'God, I need you, Lord, I need you. I need your help, I need your strength.'» I want the band to come out. Jesus says, «This is where victory happens». It happens when you… your most powerful posture is not on your feet, it’s on your knees. It’s in a place of surrender. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. What are you hungry for? Our schedules really tell us what we’re hungry for. How do I know what I’m thirsty for? What I’m hungry for?
Just look at your schedule. Look at your bank account. Look at your latest statement. Where have you spent the most money, the most time? Where is your energy going? Ashley and I, we got five kids, so we gotta spend a lot of time with our kids. But you know what? And we love that, we love spending time with our kids. They’re amazing. I’m not just saying that 'cause they’re in the room. I’m saying that 'cause I genuinely love Liam, Benny, Mack, Ellie, Gianna. But you know something I tell our kids is, «Guys, Jesus is first, Jesus is first». We make a priority to pray. We make a priority to lean into what does it look like to let God lead our house, to invite His presence with worship music and stuff. And we don’t always get it right, man. There’s times where we get into silly arguments.
And then it’s at that moment where God goes, «Okay, who’s gonna be the first to the cross»? Husbands, one of the best ways we can lead the house is to be the first to apologize, to be the first to say, «I was wrong». Because that’s where victory is won. If we’re gonna be peacemakers, which Jesus goes on to say, «Blessed are the peacemakers,» then we gotta be strife stoppers, and strife stoppers are people who don’t try to win an argument, but they’re the first ones to go, «Hey, more than anything, I just want peace between you and me. I want peace in our house. I want peace in our family. I want peace with our sons, with our daughters».
We’re gonna bind the spirit of strife and arguing. In a world that’s so divisive, we need more peacemakers. We need less opinionated tweeters, and opinionated Facebookers, and opinionated, just everybody’s got an opinion, and everybody wants to jump into the argument. Who’s gonna be the first to the cross to say, «Hey, let’s just, let’s let love win this situation. Let’s let the love of God win». Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the children of God. Hunger and thirst for righteousness. Again, I’m almost done. I think God is calling the church to get more hungry for Him. I think part of this outpouring that’s happening across America is it’s a drawing.
God is getting His bride ready saying, «Okay, you’ve been obsessed with so many things that are leaving you empty». The American church, we’ve been obsessed with so many things, I’m guilty of it, that just leave us empty. Jesus says, «I’m calling you back to the cross». I’m calling you back to that simple hunger and thirst for more of Him. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. We’re gonna continue this for the next few weeks, leading up to Easter. But when I come back to that mercy place, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Again when we get the plank out of our eye, Jesus says, «Then you know what to do with the speck in your brother’s eye». When you deal with the stuff in your own life, when you carry a heart of humility. What do I do with this plank? How do I get rid of it? How do I get rid of the the plank in my life? And how do I deal with the speck in my brother’s eye? Where is that speck? Here it is. This is a big deal, Paul. We gotta really deal with this. What are we gonna do with the sinners in the church? What are we gonna do with the sinners? What do I do with the speck in my brother’s eye and the plank in my eye?
I bring it to the only one who can atone for it. I bring it to the cross. You go, «But Paul, you don’t know what he has done to me. You don’t know what they’ve said to me». And maybe they are the ones that have this, and you’re the one that has this. But the reality is none of us can fix these problems. Only Jesus can truly bring the healing for our families, for that sister that you’re offended at, for that brother. Jesus says, «Bring it to the cross. Bring your plank and bring your speck to the cross».