Pure Faith: A Bible Discussion Podcast

Matthew 5:1-10...Part 1

June 13, 2023 Mitchell Heitkamp and Michele Waymire Episode 99
Pure Faith: A Bible Discussion Podcast
Matthew 5:1-10...Part 1
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Do you ever find yourself pondering the deeper meaning behind Jesus' words in the Beatitudes? Join us in our latest episode of the Pure Faith Podcast, where we take an in-depth look at this essential passage from the Gospel of Matthew. We analyze the context in which Jesus delivers this sermon and share our personal experiences in the military, drawing parallels between the Army values and the teachings of the Beatitudes.

As we break down the Beatitudes verse-by-verse, we explore the significance of the details revealed in the scripture, such as the crowd that followed Jesus, the mountain he went up, and the first use of the word 'disciple' in the Gospel of Matthew. We also share some humorous stories from our time in the military, demonstrating how the Army values and the Beatitudes can be a guiding force in both our home and military lives.

Lastly, we delve into a thought-provoking discussion on the future tense of Jesus' teachings. Are these lessons meant to be fulfilled while we are still on Earth, or do they hold significance for our afterlife? Tune in to find out how the kingdom of heaven is already here and how these teachings will come to full fruition once we enter the afterlife. Don't forget to subscribe for more enlightening conversations on faith and scripture!

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Michele:

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Pure Faith Podcast, a podcast where we discuss all things Bible. I am your host or co-host, michelle Waymeyer, and this is my brother, mitchell Hi Camp, our host, again right in the face. If you haven't done so, we ask that you like this video. I don't know if this is where we're at. Listen to me, i don't even know. We ask that you like this video. subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification icon to be notified when new episodes are released. It's been a week.

Mitchell:

It's only been a week.

Michele:

It is what it is. I came in here like a tornado.

Mitchell:

Two minutes before we start recording, i will call you out Mind you. Six, twenty-eight, you're walking in.

Michele:

I walked.

Mitchell:

Like two blocks.

Michele:

I walked really fast and then I got here, like how to breath? I need to get in shape. But I'm here. I got nothing. I could have showed up last week. You weren't here though.

Mitchell:

You could have done by yourself.

Michele:

Wouldn't have been that. See, i came and talk. When did that have been fun?

Mitchell:

It would have been interesting.

Michele:

I bet people would have watched it.

Mitchell:

I'm sure they would have.

Michele:

Oh, too funny. So what's going on? Nothing.

Mitchell:

We're on the eve of the big poultry days festivities.

Michele:

Oh yes, we are, some people live for this weekend.

Mitchell:

Including my wife.

Michele:

Because she's a part of the committee, so it's not because she enjoys. I mean, i guess she might enjoy being up there doing what she does, but she's not there for the hype of all that, the drunkenness. Right? Well, anyhow, i do not live for this weekend.

Mitchell:

No.

Michele:

It gives me a lot of unnecessary anxiety.

Mitchell:

Speaking of that, you have to go with me Saturday.

Michele:

Where we going Saturday.

Mitchell:

Take the voice up there. It's right, right.

Michele:

I thought that was on Sunday. Probably do it.

Mitchell:

Sunday too.

Michele:

Let's just do it on Sunday.

Mitchell:

Well, i think Paige is getting us wristbands.

Michele:

For Sunday? I hope I don't know. Please Hold on a second. I must pray. Well, i don't know what to do Seriously, i much rather do Sunday. There's like no kids there on Sunday. Sunday is nice, saturday it's a mess. I have to work the chicken line at two o'clock.

Mitchell:

Well then we might do an ask for your chicken line. I'd rather do it later in the evening. Hopefully most of the kids are gone.

Michele:

No, they're not. They're all on sugar highs by then, because they've already crashed after the parade from their sugar high. We'll discuss that later. Yeah, we'll figure it out. Every year we go on Sunday.

Mitchell:

We do go on Sunday And I told Paige Like after the antique parade, car parade or whatever it is.

Michele:

We go up there, it's perfect. There's like no kids there, because by that time they have nobody left.

Mitchell:

They're all out, right, yeah but I don't know if it matters. I know the wristbands are the right wristbands. They're only good for one day, but I don't know if it matters which day.

Michele:

I just said I had unnecessary anxiety for this coming weekend. Did you hear me say that?

Mitchell:

Yeah, I'm just trying to give you some more. Okay, what else? What else, wusa, you have a massage your ear. Wusa, wusa, you're on. What that's from?

Michele:

No idea.

Mitchell:

What is that from?

Michele:

Anybody.

Mitchell:

No Bad boys. Bad boys Two or three. Bad boys, yeah, i think it's bad boys too.

Michele:

Wait, they massage your ear Yeah.

Mitchell:

They massage your ear.

Michele:

They massage your ear. They massage your ear. It's not a good way of meditation On Saturday after I get the chicken.

Mitchell:

I'm going to watch that movie.

Michele:

I'm not able to go to the ultra-vase to do that. That's no excuse.

Mitchell:

No excuse.

Michele:

FYI, it doesn't work in the movie. Oh, it doesn't, okay, well, whatever, everybody had a great time while they were there. You'll be seeing this after and you will hopefully see me the week after. Maybe, We'll see.

Mitchell:

Do you start timer?

Michele:

No, i didn't start a timer. How long have we been talking Anybody? Oh, yeah, about five minutes. I just left because we started late. That's the lurkies on, i know. All right, i'll start a timer. We're doing something different tonight.

Mitchell:

Yeah.

Michele:

Yeah, don't you remember. We're going to Matthew Phi, no more.

Mitchell:

Matthew 4. I saw it in News of Matthew 4. What I'm just kidding, No.

Michele:

I can't.

Mitchell:

You're so gallable.

Michele:

McPhyland I am. I know what movie that's from. Thanks to my dad. Oh my gosh.

Mitchell:

This is the movie quote episode.

Michele:

Obviously. I'm just surprised there are actually movies in that like kid movies.

Mitchell:

No, I got plenty of those too.

Michele:

Oh my gosh, which reminds me I watched Mitchell's Boys last Sunday. Oh my goodness.

Mitchell:

What'd they do?

Michele:

It's not really them. So listen. So Ephraim does this army crawl thing and he's not done that or how shit. okay, and I put him on the ground, he rolls over and he gets in the army crawl and Don's like shut the door to the basement. He's on the move. I'm like he's not done this. I got plenty of time. You're getting faster. Eli's potty training. He's so awesome, he went very, very good at that. And we had no fights. It was, it was very.

Mitchell:

That is probably the biggest miracle out of all of it.

Michele:

Yes, i'm going to tell you it was. There were no fights. Mind you, i bought a second girl, so that's probably why there were no fights. We were good So, but they're getting big, they're cute, yeah. So all right, enough about your kids, let's talk about the Bible.

Mitchell:

Okay. So yes, we will be starting Matthew five.

Michele:

Yay.

Mitchell:

Before we get into Matthew five, just kind of some overview up to this point in Matthew, Matthew trying to point out the fact that Jesus is Messiah by, you know, looking at his birth and his childhood, looking at the Magi story, moving on into the baptism and the 40 days and 49 days on the wilderness, the temptation story. So Matthew's been using all this stuff to highlight the fact that Jesus is Messiah, which he's going to continue doing this throughout his entire gospel is pointing to the fact that Jesus is Messiah. But now you know, up to this point it's been setting up the fact that Jesus is Messiah, He is who he is. Now, as we go into chapter five and as we go through five, six and seven, all three chapters, it is one big teaching sermon that Matthew covers. So Matthew has skipped a lot of stuff in Jesus's first two years of ministry, But now he's focusing three chapters on one teaching. So, yeah, So we're really going to be looking really deep into this teaching that Jesus has. And one thing to note about the teaching that he gives and this is a very three chapters is that it is geared towards and focused to those who have already accepted the kingdom of heaven, So those who have already accepted the baptism have accepted Jesus as son of God. You know it's geared towards those people, and he is just outlining a set of guidelines for life. That, though, you know. If we're reading them, you know everything sounds simple enough, but to put it into practice in our day to day lives it is almost impossible, Because what Jesus is outlining through all this is nothing short of Godlike perfection. So anybody who could fulfill everything that Jesus teaches would be amazing, But chances are that's not going to happen. We're all going to fall short somewhere.

Michele:

I believe so.

Mitchell:

But other than that, let's get started. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to read Matthew 5, 1 through 10. And then we're going to cover the first and second verse.

Michele:

Okay.

Mitchell:

Because verse one and two, that is more of a setup and introduction into the beatitudes, and then three through 10 are the actual beatitudes.

Michele:

This is something that you really are looking forward to.

Mitchell:

I don't know Why.

Michele:

I thought you said it.

Mitchell:

Well, it's going to be a lot. We might only get through one beatitude in an episode, so that means we would be here for several weeks Nice, just on the attitudes. I don't know, we'll see. I'll try to get maybe through two for episode.

Michele:

Okay, that'll cut our time. It don't matter. I mean, it's whatever Yeah.

Mitchell:

I mean, if you never start the timer, then who knows? Who knows right?

Michele:

But I did right. Yes, i did Eventually.

Mitchell:

yes, All right. So Matthew five, one through 10 reads. So we're going to do our verse by verse, section by section. Break down. Okay. So verse one seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain And when he sat down, his disciples came to him. So seeing the crowds, so this crowd is the same crowd that we mentioned at the end of our last episode. This is the same crowd from Matthew four, 25. So this is just a large group of people that are, you know. They've seen Jesus doing miracles, they've seen Jesus do healings and they've heard him teach and they have decided to follow him wherever it is that he's going. But then this next section he went up on the mountain. So he's seen that he had these great crowds and that they were following him and that is what triggered him to go up onto the mountain. He's just seen all these people is like you know what? I think this might be a good time to sit down and have a chat, so, but the thing is a lot of scholars, don't They argue over was this an actual mountain? Was it just the hill country? What actually was it? Because there was no actual mountain described in the Bible, so they don't know exactly what mountain this was. That leads a lot of scholars to believe that, well, maybe it wasn't a mountain so much as a hill or a series of hills. It's always been my understanding and the way I've always been told is if there are details in the Bible, they're there for a reason. They're there to highlight something, And if they're not, then it's not like there. So it doesn't matter what mountain this was. It's not about the mountain.

Michele:

No.

Mitchell:

It's about the teaching So. But many scholars do agree that it was most likely in the territory northwest of the Sea of Galilee, so west of Capernaum, up in that area, just outside the town, probably somewhere up there. So next is when he sat down. So this image of Jesus being in a seated position as he teaches, this is a position of authoritative teaching. This puts Jesus in that image of a rabbinic teacher. So, rabbi, Rabbi. So Not only that, but the seated position is also very common And it was normal for the people who were giving the eulogy type thing on that synagogue to yes, they'll stand up, they'll do the reading and then they sit down to teach. And we actually see Jesus doing this. And we actually covered this not too long ago whenever we covered the story of Jesus being rejected in Azeroth.

Michele:

Mm-hmm Yep.

Mitchell:

Whenever he was doing that, they gave him the scroll of Isaiah. He stood there, he read from the scroll, he gave it back and then he sat down to teach. So this was a very common practice, Okay. So this just kind of puts him in that image of an authoritative teacher. His disciples came to him. So this is another instance that a lot of scholars kind of argue over, because it mentions the disciples.

Michele:

Mm-hmm.

Mitchell:

So many scholars believe that this disciples he's referencing the 12 disciples Mm-hmm. But the problem with that is that at this point in Matthew's Gospel there's only been four disciples called Mm-hmm.

Michele:

Mm-hmm. Simon Andrew James and John Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Mitchell:

So that leads a lot of other scholars to say that, well, and he's just calling these other four or these four disciples that have been called, but the rest of the crowd was just kind of around. So Jesus was talking to these four disciples, or however many disciples were there.

Michele:

Mm-hmm.

Mitchell:

The disciples that would become apostles, mm-hmm. But then the rest of the crowd was just kind of listening in And he was addressing them, but talking to everybody. Okay, i don't necessarily agree with that either, because, as I already mentioned in the last episode, my belief is that this entire crowd could be considered disciples.

Michele:

Mm-hmm, You should yeah.

Mitchell:

Because of the actual definition of disciples Of disciples, mm-hmm.

Michele:

They were following Jesus, mm-hmm.

Mitchell:

They were listening to Jesus' teaching Mm-hmm. They were being disciples Right, so this whole crowd could be considered disciples Labeled as disciples. Mm-hmm. Another interesting fact is this is the first time the word disciple is actually used in the Gospel of Matthew Okay, which I don't even know if that's what I'm going to say, oh yeah, it is, it's it.

Michele:

I didn't even look. Look at that.

Mitchell:

But there's something else that we need to know is If we're following. if you go back and look at the chronological order of that study that we did, of the chronology, of. Jesus. we see that it hasn't just been the four that he's called, that Jesus has called, because we've seen that he also called Philip and we call him Nathaniel, who would then become Bartholomew. So technically he's called six disciples. So those six disciples came in here, but the only other disciple that they actually have the calling of that disciple in the Bible is Matthew, so that's seven. So there are five disciples that we don't know how they were called. We don't know anything about them, and a few of them. The only place they're mentioned is in the list of twelve. They're not even mentioned anywhere else, no, just in the list of twelve apostles. That's the only place they're listed. It's the only time they're mentioned. So very interesting, Yeah, very interesting. So, who knows, maybe, the, maybe they are all there, except for Matthew, because Matthew in Matthew's gospel wasn't called to later, but everybody else is there, they could be there. I don't know if they were there. We don't know, we don't know, we don't know when they were called.

Michele:

Nope.

Mitchell:

Going into verse two, and he opened his mouth and taught them. So this idea of him opening his mouth, It seems odd to me. Well, it does, until you realize that it is an idiom. Okay, do you know what an idiom is?

Michele:

Makes an idiot of you and me. No So a common idiom.

Mitchell:

Modern day idiom would be like the piece of cake, saying that something is really easy. It's a piece of cake. What are you doing.

Michele:

I'm just on my rear examples. He used cake.

Mitchell:

Do you have a piece of cake? I'll take a piece of cake?

Michele:

No, I have no cake right now.

Mitchell:

No, I'm drawing blanks. I don't write any of these down.

Michele:

I think people get it.

Mitchell:

So yeah, it's an idiom, but this is a common Old Testament idiom that was familiar. So all the Jewish readers that Matthew was writing to, they would have understood what this meant, and this was just a way of saying that. Hey a, was it a significant pronouncement coming? So yeah, so what does that mean? Well, if you actually put one and two together now, so one with Jesus being in a seated position, he is that is a position of authoritative teaching. And now he is opening his mouth, which is a way of saying that a significant pronouncement is coming. It is putting Jesus in the position of an authoritative teacher with a significant pronouncement. And this is all, before we even get into the actual beatitudes. That's just the first two verses of 10-5. So Matthew is setting Jesus up as somebody of significance.

Michele:

Yes, he is, so now let's.

Mitchell:

we're going to get into the actual beatitudes, which is verses 3 through 10. But before we just get into them, we need to do an overview of the actual beatitudes, Because there's a lot about these beatitudes, a lot about the structure, a lot about their meaning, that we need to cover as a general overview instead of a verse by verse.

Michele:

Okay.

Mitchell:

So These B attitudes are used to set up the values of the kingdom of heaven. So they are the largest collection of what is called macarisms, which we'll get into that later. Okay, probably next episode, or two weeks or three weeks or somewhere. We're going to get to what macarisms actually mean Within the next year. It should be within the next year. I think that's a safe bet. But they are constructed in a way that are easy to memorize but yet have the most impact. So the packet punch, but yet they're short, they're sweet, they're easy to memorize, but they have a lot of meaning And they are also. They lift up those that the world, the secular world, they're lifting up those that this world would consider weak losers, worthless, like those type of people like us.

Michele:

Us. Why are you labeling me?

Mitchell:

Well, I've known you for a long time now.

Michele:

Remember, I am your older sister.

Mitchell:

Yeah, that's why I've known you so long I know, be kind.

Michele:

Poetry days is the coming weekend. I want to go right, right as there is.

Mitchell:

Have I ever told you how much I appreciate everything you do, Michelle?

Michele:

Oh my gosh, he bats his eyes when he wants something. He's so funny. Yeah Shall I show you guys some M&Ms, please. He bats his eyes.

Mitchell:

Yes, I got some M&Ms.

Michele:

Sorry, Way way off topic here.

Mitchell:

Sorry, give me a chance to check on my notes. Okay, we're ready to get back to the market. Yeah, we're good. So the Beatitudes all have the same general structure as well. Yes, so they all start with blessed Yep blessed are, blessed are, and they're followed by either a type of person or a type of situation that a person would be in, but all of those are in present tense, so as in it's happening right now. But then they're followed by for they or theirs or for theirs Future, and this is all looking towards future. It's a future promise that they are giving with it, and one thing to notice is in verse three and 10, they both have the same second clause, the same future.

Michele:

I don't think I saw that.

Mitchell:

Yeah, so both end of verse three and the verse 10 ends with, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, but for these two they're present tense, they're not future tense. So it's verses four through nine are future, but three and 10 are present for the second clause, what I'm referring to. But this kind of puts bookends on the Beatitudes, it kind of has. It gives it that beginning and ending Like hey, this is where it starts, this is where it ends. It gives it that more structure to it. But I mean, there's more we have to talk about whenever it comes to the structure, because each verse verse three through 10, each verse has two parts. So you have the beginning, which we already thought, and those, the whole collection of those, all seven of them they are to act as guidelines for the way we live our lives, so in a way they're supposed to be acting as our core values as Christians. Okay, makes sense. If you don't realize what values are, if you don't understand the whole concept of values, the best comparison I have is the army values, because I've been in the army for over 20 years. I mean two years, because I'm so young.

Michele:

No, that's closer to 22 than two.

Mitchell:

Whoa.

Michele:

Whoa I mean really I'm so happy being nice to you. I am so very proud of you for all the service that you've given. You just had a little jab saying that No, i'm older than you. That's it.

Mitchell:

What am I listening to? So the Army values, just if you're wondering, it's probably pointless, but it's loyalty, duty, respect, service, honor, integrity, personal courage. And these are also set up in design, in the same way that the Beatitudes are, as in. They're meant to be easily memorable, because if you actually use the first letter of the Army values, it's L, d, r, s, h, i, p, leadership.

Michele:

Very interesting.

Mitchell:

So that's a way that they do it to make it easier to memorize.

Michele:

That's how you memorize.

Mitchell:

Yeah, and there is a definition for each one, but I'm not going that far into depth on this. But the whole reason for the Army values are for any of those who choose to enlist in the Army, one of the very first things that they learn, or start to learn, are the Army values. And these values are used and set up in a way that they are intended to let whoever joins the Army know, like hey, memorize these, live by these. These are how we expect all of you to act, and they deal with every aspect of life. So it's not just wartime, peacetime, it's in everything that you do.

Michele:

Everything you do, both home life and military life.

Mitchell:

That's what I was going to say while you're in uniform, while you're out of uniform, like 24-7.

Michele:

Now, if you didn't learn them by a certain time, did you have to do push-ups and say SpongeBob SquarePants.

Mitchell:

Well, I did that for a different reason.

Michele:

Oh, ok, i just asking.

Mitchell:

If you pick on the drill sergeant long enough, then you may have to do push-ups.

Michele:

And as you're doing them, as you go down.

Mitchell:

SpongeBob. if you go up to the SquarePants SpongeBob SquarePants, SpongeBob SquarePants That may have happened.

Michele:

It did happen, yeah, that happened.

Mitchell:

How'd you know about that?

Michele:

I know right Of all the things that I remember about you going to your basic training.

Mitchell:

That was actually AIT.

Michele:

Oh, was it OK? Again, no idea, i just remember it because I think SpongeBob's probably about 22 years old.

Mitchell:

I'm probably older than that.

Michele:

Is it? I don't know. I was saying it was a hot commodity and we heard that you had to do push-ups saying SpongeBob SquarePants. You don't think that was complete laughter at my house, because Noah was probably about four and you watched SpongeBob and Mitchell had to do push-ups to SpongeBob SquarePants, all I know. I didn't know anything else. I didn't know if it's because you didn't learn your values, your core values, or because you were.

Mitchell:

I'm going to pass the blame and blame that on Shumpas. Ok, i haven't spoken to him in 20 years. For some reason he watches this. It's your fault. I don't have this contact information anymore. Oh, the memories, yeah. I don't even know where.

Michele:

I'm at anymore.

Mitchell:

Five minutes, figure it out.

Michele:

Oh, something to do with the Army values. So yes, The Army values.

Mitchell:

They were used as a way of letting any new recruits know that this is how we, as the Army, expect you to live your life. So this was from like day one until today. So you know the.

Michele:

Army's been around long time. Core values, just like our Beatitude, beatitude.

Mitchell:

Yes, beatitudes Yes, and so the Beatitude. I always have a tongue tie. I can't say a lot of things, you get a fat tongue.

Michele:

I have a fat tongue a lot.

Mitchell:

I don't say things right.

Michele:

People make fun of me a lot, so the Beatitude are meant to have that same.

Mitchell:

I'm just going to keep going. I was just saying That same purpose as in. you know the Army values. They are meant for new Christians, whenever you decide to accept Christ as your Lord and Savior. they are used for those new Christians to kind of help set up like, hey, this as a Christian, this is kind of how we expect you to live. Now. you're not going to experience all of these every single day And you're not supposed to go out and search for these types of things every single day. Like there's no reason why you should be going out trying to find a reason to be mournful every day. But what it's about is, if you're in a situation where you are mournful, where you are mourning for some reason, then you can use these as a guidelines for how you should act during that time so that you can have that future promise that, essentially, is the kingdom of heaven. Yeah, i'm just wondering.

Michele:

You've got three minutes.

Mitchell:

Okay, so like I figured where I was, the second part of these is then a third dressed. Wait, the second part. Okay, so the second part is that promise for those that are fulfilling that first part, like I kind of just said. But these promises will be given to those who live their lives according to the guidelines or values mentioned in the first part, which, again, i've kind of already said that, and but the key thing to know is that the second part, these future promises, they are just as important, if not more important, than the first part. So it is important to look at both of these together. And verses three and 10 have that promise that seemed like it's going to be an immediate fulfillment. Like there is the kingdom of heaven. So if you are poor in spirit and you live your life in a way where you are poor in spirit which that is something you can do every day, because that is internal We'll cover that whenever we get to it But if you do live your life in that way, then you are able to have the kingdom of heaven. What is the kingdom of heaven? The kingdom of heaven is what we're living in now. The kingdom of heaven was given to us whenever Jesus died on the cross, whenever he was crucified, died, buried three days, he rose again And whenever he was essentially resurrected. We then had the kingdom of heaven. We were then living in the kingdom of heaven. We are now living in the kingdom of heaven because whenever Jesus was doing all of us preaching beforehand up through chapter four, when we were looking at all that he was preaching, the kingdom of heaven is near. Well, it wasn't until his death and resurrection that it was here, Well, now we are living in the here. So if you are able to live your life like you are poor in spirit, and I don't remember what verse 10 was, but if you live your life that way too, then yours is the kingdom of heaven. This one might be long.

Michele:

Yeah, we probably should wrap it up. Let me find my paper.

Mitchell:

Let me just go ahead and finish it. I already did this. So Jesus, 4th you know, our future tense.

Michele:

Yes.

Mitchell:

So the question then are these going to be fulfilled now, while we're here on earth, or are they going to be fulfilled in the afterlife? And the short answer is both. Long answer is kind of like what I just already said about the kingdom of heaven is already here, so they will be partially fulfilled while we are here, even though they are future tense. There is going to be a partial fulfillment while we are still on this earth, but with all of them they will be fully fulfilled whenever we get into our afterlife. And I'll go ahead and end there.

Michele:

Alright, are you sure?

Mitchell:

Nope.

Michele:

Nope, but the timer already went off, so we thank you for joining us. Please leave a comment on this video or go to our contact page on PureFaithLivingcom to send us a message And, as always, if you like what you hear, then we ask that you share this show with others so we can all work together in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. Don't forget to subscribe, and we will talk to you again next time.

Mitchell:

Have a blessed day everybody.

Bible Study
An Overview of the Beatitudes
The Beatitudes and Core Values
Fulfillment of Future Tense