Human Flourishing (Matthew 5:1–2)

The phrase “human flourishing” is frequently found in modern writing. It can be used as a statement of “wokeness,” often clueless of what flourishing really is, or it can be used with biblically legitimacy. We are after the latter. And the Sermon on the Mount is the foundational document for it.

The Sermon on the Mount was spoken by Jesus to the Twelve and other would-be disciples. It is Jesus’ charter for the kingdom of God, which he came to establish.

It is not for a future age (contra ultra-dispensationalists) but rather is for our age, the new age of the new covenant. It remains a “charter” to guide the disciples of Christ towards a life of human happiness, human potential, human fulfilment, and hence human flourishing.

The context of the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ recent declaration of his bringing the kingdom of God breaking in on the kingdoms of this world, which at that point were under the sway of “the god of this world,” Satan (see Matthew 4:17–25).

As people—in fact, multitudes of people—begin to follow him, Jesus goes up a mountain in Galilee and, as the new Moses, declares the mandate for those who will follow him.

Matthew records several important narratives leading up to chapter 5, including the slaughter of infants at Jesus’ birth; Christ’s family’s flight to Egypt and return to Nazareth; his temptation in the wilderness, including forty days of fasting; and his passing through the waters of baptism. These narratives closely parallel the exodus and wilderness wandering accounts in the Old Testament. Jesus, in some ways, stands as the new and better Moses. As Pennington observes, “Jesus is speaking as the mosaic Messiah and he is delivering messianic Torah.”

As we introduce a brief series in the beatitudes, there are several things to observe about them and the sermon in which they are found.

Mountains in Scripture frequently serve as places of revelation in the old covenant (Sinai, Pisgah, Carmel, etc.). Sinai, in particular, was a place of covenantal inception. From the description in Genesis, it appears that Eden was on a mountain, which connects a mountain with kingdom theology. Later in Matthew, the disciples will return to (probably) the same mountain for their covenantal marching orders.

Though, in a very real sense, chapters 5–7 reveal the law of Christ’s kingdom, there is nothing legalistic about it. Rather, these chapters strike at the heel of legalism. No, the only way to live by the Sermon on the Mount is to be born again. We need a righteousness which exceeds the merely external righteousness of religion (5:20).

Many social activists, including conservatives, as well as the progressive left, have and still appeal to the need for people to simply follow the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. At the risk of sounding facetious, good luck with that. Randolph Tasker helpfully observes,

He then quotes Dodd: “The ethics of the Sermon on the Mount are the absolute ethics of the kingdom of God.”

In other words, one must enter the kingdom before one can rightly carry out the ethics of the kingdom. A new heart is required for a new way of living.

Human flourishing is impossible apart from the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5, 16–17). Human flourishing is a gospel issue. We might even say that it is the gospel issue, because human flourishing is only possible through being converted by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus said, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (v. 20), he was not exhorting them to work harder than the Pharisees. Rather, he was driving home at least two things: first, that righteousness is more than skin deep; it goes to the heart (see vv. 21–48); and, second, that godly righteousness can only come from God.

The blessed person is the truly righteous person. The blessed person is whole-heartedly devoted to God. This is ultimate human flourishing. And it is all because of God.

In short, when approaching this mountain of teaching, we do so in dependence upon the triune God. Only he can make us flourish; only he can give us abundance of life (John 10:10). And this is the foundation for the way the Sermon on the Mount begins: with the beatitudes.

Verses 1–12 reflect the true, but counterintuitive, happiness of Christ’s kingdom. As we introduce the beatitudes, we observe several things.

The word “beatitudes” comes from a Latin term meaning “happiness.” It means to be congratulated because of the happy condition of one’s life.

The beatitudes are an invitation to happiness and flourishing. They are the birthright of those who live under the kingly rule of God. Someone has therefore referred to these as “the litmus test of genuine faith.” Another has suggested, “Anyone who claims to … belong to God’s kingdom, or to be a member of his body the church’s, in whom these qualities are conspicuous by their absence, ‘is a liar and knows not the truth’” (Tasker). The only humans who can truly flourish are those who have been graciously brought into God’s kingdom. And the evidence of their flourishing, among other things, is a life blessed with poverty of spirit, meekness, mourning over sin, etc. These beatitudes make possible every other ethical expectation in the rest of the sermon.

For example, they will be salt and light—essentially different from those outside of the kingdom, who are notflourishing. They will not be controlled by anger or lust, nor will they be unfaithful oath breakers, or retaliatory. Positively, they will be the only people capable of godly love.

William Hendricksen makes the observation that the beatitudes describe that which is a reversal of all human evaluations. That is, God’s design of human flourishing is antithetical to that of the world. And this is why it is foolish to assume that one can practise the Sermon on the Mount while at the same time rejecting faith in its speaker.

“The beatitudes are ‘proclamations of a state/condition of human flourishing, not pronouncements of what to do and be to enjoy God’s favour,” writes Pennington. That is, Jesus is not saying, “Do this and this will happen” For example, he is not saying, “Be humble and you will be blessed.” Rather, Jesus is saying, “When you see someone who is humble, they are blessed; the happy are the humble; the humble are the happy.” This is different from saying, “Be humble and you will be happy.” In that case, happiness is earned. But, in the beatitudes, Jesus is saying that God’s gift of human flourishing arises from his gifts of poverty of spirit, meekness, mourning, etc. Neither is earned.

When we approach the beatitudes we are not to do so committed to blood, sweat, and tears in order to achieve poverty of spirit, etc. Rather we approach the beatitudes crying out, “God give me poverty of spirit, give me meekness, give me mourning over my sin, give me a hunger and thirst for righteousness, make me merciful, give me purity of heart, make me a peacemaker, make me righteous enough to be out of step with the world and hence persecuted and reviled.” The poor in spirit are flourishing and they are flourishing because God made them so.

Verse 48 brackets the chapter constructively. The word translated “perfect” means wholehearted orientation to God. It points to wholehearted devotion to God. The call here is not to moral perfection (though this is the ultimate goal) but rather to consistency between the internal and the external. This is the kind of person who truly flourishes—unlike the Pharisees, who are a large reference point in this message. The person therefore who is “blessed” is “perfect” because God has done it.

Let’s make several observations as we draw to a close.

First, human flourishing isn’t for everyone. Note that Jesus seemingly moves away from the crowds. Human flourishing is a gracious gift. When God awakens us, when he offers the gift of repentance, we are to follow him, willing to leave the crowds behind and embrace a higher life, quite literally.

Second, human flourishing requires submission to the authority of Jesus Christ. “He sat down” was a rabbinic posture for teaching. When the teacher sat down, his students stood up to listen and to learn. No one can flourish apart from faith. Faith is expressed in obedience and submission.

Third, human flourishing is countercultural. Even a brief reading of this passage proves this. After all, poverty (of anything!) is frowned upon in our culture, as are mourning over sin, meekness of spirit, and pursuing wholehearted hunger for knowing God. Being merciful is mocked and seeking revenge is the stuff of box office successes. And equally, peace-making—though it offers a Nobel Prize—is not nearly as lucrative as is weapons manufacturing. Finally, who wants to be reviled and/or persecuted?

Fourth, human flourishing is out of this world. The second part of each beatitude provides what we might describe as a descriptive incentive, or perhaps better, a flourishing favour. That is, these people are blessed to be ________ because they shall receive _________. Though these results/rewards are experienced in this life—in  this space-time world—nevertheless they come from above, for they come from God. Again, our God is the one who provides the flourishing, and therefore as he defines it.

Fifth, and finally, human flourishing is ultimately Christ-centred and gospel-driven. The Sermon on the Mount is grounded in the atonement secured by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There can be no flourishing apart from divine forgiveness. There could be no acceptable righteousness apart from the righteousness provided by God (Romans 1:16–17). Reconciliation with God is the beginning of human flourishing.

AMEN